The Roulettes: Beginnings
by Spin the Roulette
Summary: Once, there was a group of heroines called the Roulettes, who protected the universe from the threat of the Dark Emperor. Now, long after their deaths, a new generation of Roulettes will come forth...
1. Episode 1: Fates Intertwined

_**Who here has heard of the New Lives Saga, by Emma Iveli? Well, this is a fic with the premise of a magical girl team that was reincarnated into a bunch of boys. Poor guys. Anyway, the prologue (that you have to read for this to make some sense) is on my fic community. On LiveJournal. It's called effyfics.**_

_**Anyway, read and enjoy!**_

_**

* * *

**__**Episode 1:  
Fates Intertwined**_

* * *

"Dammit," Dianne cursed, shaking the mud off of her boots. "You just had to go exploring and take me and the two Pikachu along, did you, Ketchum? And you just had to forget the most essential tool in an exploration too, huh?" She shot a glare at the young, spiky-haired boy in front of her.

"I thought you had the map in your bag!" Ash protested, turning around and pointing to the shoulder bag that Lynn, Dianne's Pikachu, had made into a comfortable albeit small vehicle. "You were always Little Miss Prepared when we were kids!"

"Things changed since then," Dianne shot back. "Especially since I've started hanging around you."

"**You have to admit, she has a point,**" Ash's Pikachu chirped from its perch on his hat. "**You rub off on people who hang around you.**"

"Shaddup, Pikachu," Ash muttered, turning back to the snow-covered roads they had found themselves standing on. "Let's go back to the Pokemon Center. And lucky for us, I know a shortcut!"

He went running off to the road that bent left, with a reluctant Dianne and Lynn following.

* * *

"We're lost."

Ness sighed, then glanced at his friend, Lucas. They had been exploring this small forest for quite a while now, and it was starting to get dark.

Really, he didn't blame Lucas for voicing his concerns. The young boy had nothing but their best interests in his mind, but his views on what their best interests were often contradicted by Ness's views on the same thing. Ness often won out, due to his seniority in his abilities, his great age that was hidden by his youthful appearance, and the fact that in the end, Lucas wanted to explore, to sate his curiosity just as much as Ness did.

But this time, he was starting to think Lucas was right. Strange things tended to happen at night in the forest, and both of them didn't want to get in trouble with either Ness's mom or Flint.

However, the curiosity and excitement soon overwhelmed Ness's concerns, and he smiled at Lucas.

"Don't you want to know what that thing that keeps shining from this forest is?" he asked.

"Well, yeah, I do," Lucas began, "but it doesn't mean that—"

Ness wasn't listening. He simply grabbed Lucas by the hand as soon as he caught sight of a brilliant dazzle from the cave nearby and dragged him towards it.

* * *

"Quick! Into the cave!"

Dianne quickly obeyed Ash's directions, cursing their luck. One moment they had been trudging on snow-covered roads, the next a snowstorm had struck and she and Ash, holding their Pikachu to protect them from the freezing cold, had blindly stumbled their way through. Lucky for them Ash had found a cave, or else they would've ended up the way of Otzi and his Stantler.

As she and Lynn tumbled inside, panting from the effort, Dianne found herself staring, enthralled, at a dazzling blue diamond, floating in mid-air in the middle of the cave.

Ash seemed spellbound by the diamond as well. He reached out, his fingers brushed against the smooth surface…

* * *

"Whoa."

Ness had done it again. Lucas thought of his friend as multi-talented, the kind people were in awe of. He supposed it was the fact that he had defeated Giygas, although the thousand years under Porky's control may have helped.

And one of the many talents he knew Ness had in heaps was the ability to summarize what was going on in their surroundings in six words or less. This was one of those times.

Two bright diamonds, one red and one yellow, shone brightly in the middle of the cave, floating in mid-air. Lucas felt himself fall under the thrall of the yellow diamond, and, at almost the exact same time Ash Ketchum reached out his hand to touch the blue diamond in his world, Lucas's hand, as if it had suddenly come to life, reached out to touch the yellow one.

He was dimly aware of Ness's fingers brushing against the red one, but this was more important.

Fingers brushed against the smooth surface of the diamond…

* * *

Dianne wasn't exactly known for screaming. That was what distressed damsels in the movies she had loved when she was a kid and hated when she grew up were for. She wasn't strong, either, but she took solace in the fact that she rarely, if ever, screamed.

That was why she immediately started chiding herself for letting out an ear-piercing scream upon seeing the world outside the cave and the cave itself suddenly disappear, replaced by a white room. Ash didn't seem to take notice of her very loud screech, Lynn's just as loud yelp, Pikachu's surprised noises and the change of surroundings, which was unusual for him.

Then again, probably because two very familiar kids had somehow gotten transported into the white room. Oh, and did I mention that the diamond had shrunk to fit into his palm?

* * *

Dammit.

Lucas looked up, swearing as he felt his head throb badly from what had happened in the cave.

The angry swear words that spewed forth from his mouth abruptly stopped once he realized that he was in Ash's presence.

"Ash?" he asked, not daring to believe that this was the same kid he had helped with the Ivysaur and Charizard back when Tabuu had been trying to conquer the worlds through his ruthless Subspace Army. And how could he blame himself? Ash had grown, gotten new clothes (the hoodie was a nice change from the jacket) and—was that Pikachu on Ash's hat? And was that a girl?

Damn, Ash had gotten lucky in the two years since the Brawl tournament.

Ness seemed to share the same sentiment, as he grinned and remarked to the Pokemon Trainer, "You got a girlfriend! Did you score on her yet?"

"Hey!" the girl protested, placing her hands on her hips as another Pikachu, with ribbons tied around her ears, poked its head out of the (admittedly small) handbag. "Don't talk about me like I'm not here!"

Ash seemed to snap out of a haze, turning around to face the girl. Then, with a look of realization upon his face, slowly turned to look at Lucas and Ness.

"I guess I have to introduce you guys," he muttered.

Lucas barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Yes, on the battlefield, Ash was smart and tough. He had seen that. But off the battlefield, it seemed, the boy just fell into deep pits of awkwardness, stupidity and idiocy. How he managed to get a girlfriend, Lucas never wanted to know.

"Dianne, these two are Lucas"-he jerked his thumb towards Lucas, who tentatively waved—"and Ness." He pointed towards Ness, who grinned cockily.

"It's nice to meet you, Dianne," Lucas politely greeted her.

Her previously stern expression softened, and she smiled at him. "Nice to meet you too, Luke and Ness. Call me Di, everyone does that."

Ness started to snicker. "She called you Luke!" he laughed.

"I know, Ness. Calm down, will you?"

Ash rubbed his temples, audibly sighing. "So," he began, "what's going on? How did you guys get here without mutating or something? And how did the cave disappear?"

"**You didn't notice?**" Pikachu asked incredulously. "**It was pretty obvious! But then again, Di screamed and you didn't notice either.**"

The girl spat out a few words at Pikachu that I would rather not repeat here, to keep this story at its current rating of PG-13.

"Ash, your girlfriend's got a pretty foul mouth," Ness teased, the way he used to back in the Smash Mansion. "You sure you don't have any soap to wash her mouth out with?"

Ash glared in Ness's direction, amplifying its power with a few choice words. The black-haired psychic cringed, then muttered something about "foul mouth" and "weird girlfriends".

Lucas shrugged. "Getting back on topic here, we had no idea. But it had something to do with these."

And he unclenched his fist, opening it to reveal the yellow diamond, glimmering with a kind of…magic he had never seen before. It wasn't PSI, that was for sure, but it wasn't the brand of magic Zelda or Ganondorf used, either.

Whatever it was, the yellow diamond quickly disappeared.

"Wha—"

"My diamond!" Ness exclaimed, looking at his hand where, not a moment ago, the red diamond rested. "Where'd it go?"

"Mine disappeared too!" Ash declared.

"_That is because they are a part of you now."_

"Wait, what?" Lucas slowly looked up to find a woman, glowing and dazzling each and every one of them in the white room. Her gown was pure white, but it glowed with so many colors that he had to shield his eyes. Her hair was long, reaching her waist, changing colors every so often. Her face was that of a saint, her eyes were blue (like the ocean) and her skin seemed soft, fragile like porcelain.

Dianne didn't seem to notice that.

"Who the hell are you?" she snapped. "Where are we? More importantly, why are we here?"

The woman bowed her head. _"I am the Queen of Hope,"_ she answered. _"This is a small part of the afterlife, one where those who still live can enter and communicate with those who have died. And you are here because destiny has said so."_

"Fancy name," Dianne scoffed. "And what kind of person says that we're here 'cause destiny's making us do it?"

"_I understand that you are confused,"_ the Queen of Hope replied, raising her head to look directly at the young girl. _"Do not worry. I shall tell you, and you will understand what I mean."_

She began, in her ethereal voice, to tell them a story…

* * *

_Years ago, before anyone of you were born—and don't say you're older than I am, child, you may want to close that mouth of yours—I ruled over a peaceful kingdom. It was full of colors and hope, all because of the Crystal of Colors. We were happy, and peaceful._

_Then, one day, the Dark Emperor attacked. He slaughtered all in his path for the Crystal, and when he reached the Palace, I had no choice but to shatter it into several pieces and send them into other worlds._

_It just so happened that the first three to find them were a Pokemon Trainer and two psychics. They became the first Roulettes, those with the power to defeat the Dark Emperor and end his reign._

_Soon, ten others joined with them, all with their own unique powers. Together, they went on many adventures._

_Then, one day, disaster struck. The Pokemon Trainer was kidnapped by the Dark Emperor, and was about to be used as a vessel of the Dark Emperor's former lover when one of the psychics, the one Lucas here once was, broke into the castle alone and became the vessel instead._

_The Dark Emperor was quickly defeated by the form his lover had taken on, and had to retreat. This gave his lover the chance to defeat the Roulettes._

_However, when the lover was about to strike the killing blow to the Roulettes, the sibling of the lover's former self appeared, giving enough strength for the humanity inside of the lover to overcome the lover's influence._

_Once the now-restored Roulette realized what the Dark Emperor's lover had done, however, Roulette Yellow committed suicide by lightning, dying in the sibling's arms. The sibling soon died soon after, having committed suicide by hanging._

_The Roulettes, in their grief, broke up after that. And once they died, their crystals sent themselves to the different worlds, and the Roulettes themselves were reborn in other bodies as boys._

_Yes, they were girls. Shut up and stop talking, young man._

_

* * *

_"So what you're saying," Dianne began, "is that Ash, Luke and Ness here are the reincarnations of the first three Roulettes? And that Luke in his first life—"

"_It wasn't necessarily his first,"_ the Queen corrected. _"More like his first as a Roulette. But yes, that is true."_

"Am I the sibling in your story?" Ness asked.

"_No,"_ the Queen answered, sighing. _"But I have not a single idea as to who Roulette Purple—that was Yellow's sibling, mind you—is."_

"**My Trainer, the magical girl. Damn, Ash, you get the worst deals in life,**" Pikachu remarked from atop his perch on Ash's hat. "**Like being the Chosen One back when Lawrence III was trying to collect the three legendary Bird Pokemon, or like getting this kind of girl to fall in love with you.**"

Dianne immediately flipped off the Pokemon, adding a few swear words to boot.

"Pikachu? Do me a favor." Ash massaged his temples, still in disbelief over what he had been told.

"**What?**"

"Shut up for the next few minutes. Okay? That's all I am going to ask of you for now."

Ness sighed. "That's…pretty hard to take in." He looked up at the Queen, making sure to shield his eyes. "And I've seen, heard and done some weird things myself in the one thousand years under Pokey's control."

"You still call him Pokey?" Ash asked. "Lucas said his name was Porky now."

Ness clenched his fists, trying his hardest not to let loose a PSI Rockin' Omega on Ash, reminding himself that the Pokemon Trainer was just curious.

"Still," Ness continued on, "where'd the diamonds—I mean, crystals—go? The ones we discovered? The ones that disappeared a while ago?"

"_Their material shells are with me right now."_ The Queen snapped her fingers, and three watches appeared in the air; one red, one yellow, one blue. _"I have created them into wrist communicators, so you can talk to one another, even across dimensions. They can also alert you to the other Roulettes if they are activated, and create portals for you to utilize when needed."_

Upon hearing the word "portals", Dianne perked up. "Portals?" she asked. "Do these wrist comms"—she indicated the communicators that were floating in the air—"fire out portals the same way the portal guns in Portal do? 'Cause let me tell you, the way it does so is pretty."

"You gotta forgive Di," Ash quickly said, shooting a glare at Dianne, who pouted in response. "She has an affinity for…stuff. Really strange stuff. Stuff she shouldn't be seeing at all, since she's only 15."

"She's what?" Ness's face was the epitome of surprise, mixed with disappointment, dismay and "WHAT THE HELL?"

"Yeah, so what? 15 means I'm old enough to do stuff," Dianne dismissed. "Shut up and stop saying I'm underage, 'kay?"

Lucas snickered, but quickly stopped once Ness turned a death glare on him.

The Queen sighed, then snapped her fingers. The communicators seemed to take on a life of their own, slipping onto the wrists of Ash, Ness and Lucas, respectively.

"I got the blue one," Ash flatly stated, staring at the blue communicator.

"Well, you have to respect whoever makes these decisions for once," Ness commented, scrutinizing his red communicator. "Red is my favorite color, after all."

"Yellow's probably just an average color for me," Lucas grumbled. "Just 'cause I'm blonde doesn't mean I'm into yellow. Or dumb, but that's beside the point."

Dianne crossed her arms. "Where's mine?" she demanded, before realizing that she wasn't a Roulette. "Sorry," she muttered.

"_In order to access the full potential of your powers,"_ the Queen began, _"you must first transform. You can easily do that by shouting 'Magical Transform! Roulette' and your color."_

A strange smirk crept into Dianne's expression, and she sat down, letting Lynn out of the handbag and onto her head.

"Go ahead," she said to the three boys in the middle of the white room. "Transform. I'm not gonna bother you or anything, just quietly watch. And not chew the popcorn I secretly stashed in my bag just in case something really interesting happened and I was witness to it. Oh, no." She innocently whistled.

"Sometimes I wonder what attracted me to that girl," Ash grumbled. "Okay, guys, let's do this!"

"Magical Transform!"

"Roulette Blue!"

"Roulette Yellow!"

"Roulette Red!"

The white room suddenly vanished for Ash, Ness and Lucas, as they had been engulfed by a blinding white light.

* * *

The first thing Dianne realized when she saw Ash was that he definitely was not a boy anymore. The second thing was that _damn,_ he (or maybe she was more appropriate) had nice, bouncy, jiggly jugs. Like the other two, but they weren't important here.

The third thing she realized was that her outfit was incredibly girly and that Ash looked on the verge of an incredible freak-out.

First, the shoes were high-heeled boots, with smoke patterned on them. The boots were, thankfully, the ankle-high kind that was perfect for fox hunting, but still. Cute, knee-high, light blue socks complemented the boots.

Second, the miniskirt was ridiculously short. It was blue, like the rest of the outfit, and a blue belt was draped across it, with weapons and such attached. Very stylish and practical, though Ash, pacifist that he was, would start up a stink about it.

Third, the dark blue blouse, outlined with white, was tight, leaving little to the imagination. The neckline plunged just enough to show a fair amount of cleavage, although some of it was obscured by the large, light blue bow. The collar was also blue, and a cape hung from Ash's shoulders.

Fourth, the one fingerless glove on Ash's right hand gave the outfit an edgy feel to it. It was black, accented with dark and light blue. It was also made out of leather, so bonus points to the Queen for appealing to one of Dianne's fetishes, although Ash was sure to punch the poor girl out.

Fifth, Ash's hair had completely changed. No longer was it short, spiky or kept in a hat, now it was long and wavy, also reaching to her waist. It was now a light shade of auburn, departing from the blue theme in the rest of the outfit. Dianne mentally knocked off a few points.

She then switched her gaze over to Ness's outfit. Her shoes were red sneakers, which was quite a disappointment, but the socks were ankle-high, at the very least. The ridiculously short skirt was a black and red version of Ash's, but unlike the blue blouse the transformed Ash was wearing, Ness's blouse wasn't particularly cleavage-exposing. However, her midriff was bared, with a red, sparkling swirl around her belly button, and like Ash's blouse, this one left little to the imagination.

Also, her gloves were the kind princesses wore in movies, except they were a light shade of red and exposed the fingers. Bows decorated the outfit as well, but the largest was behind the waist, attached to the miniskirt.

Dianne had to hold in a gleeful laugh upon noticing Ness's long ponytail. It had been tied into place by a big, girly red bow. That, and the poor guy's (or was it girl's?) hair had turned a premature gray, accented with red streaks.

Her collar was black, outlined with red. It was the same kind of collar the magical girls she had seen before on television used, and Dianne knocked off points for unoriginality.

She then shot a glance at Lucas and almost choked.

The outfit was the skimpiest of them all. Yes, there were yellow, earth-patterned, high-heeled boots, but they seemed to be the ankle-high kind. Her legs had been tattooed with yellow vines, and the ridiculously short miniskirt, while white, had the elegant vine pattern, and the yellow belt draped across it as well.

The blouse exposed both her newly-acquired cleavage and her slim midriff, with a vine pattern swirling out of the poor girl's belly button. A miniature yellow bow had settled upon the collar, and the headdress was a crown made out of leaves.

Her hair had turned a darker yellow, cropped close to the shoulders. Gone was the ice cream hairstyle, but that was obvious.

Last but not least, one glove was princess-like, yellow with a vine pattern, while the other was fingerless, yellow accented with orange.

"We're girls," Lucas flatly stated, as if his brain had completely and totally shut down on him.

Ash's hadn't. She swiftly started ranting and raving about how unfair it was that she had to go through this humiliation—a boy, turning into a girl—and that they had better be sent back right now or else she'd sic Pikachu on the Queen, the latter's wisdom and the consequences of doing so to royalty be damned.

Dianne snickered, then popped another kernel into her mouth. She didn't really want to intervene. This was better than the soaps on TV!

* * *

After Ash had calmed down (with some help from Ness's baseball bat), the Queen of Hope sighed.

"_I see that it may be…difficult to convince yourselves that this is really happening. I assure you, you can return back to your original forms."_

Ash shot a glare at her. "And how do you propose we do that?" she asked, a hint of murderous anger creeping into her tone.

"_Simple. Say 'Detransform'."_

Ness sighed, then tugged on Ash's puffy sleeves. "We're going to have to do it, you know," she told her. "Save the hysterics and murder plans for later."

"Fine," the Pokemon Trainer muttered, shooting another glare at her Pikachu, who had taken up the space next to Lynn and was now sharing Dianne's popcorn. "Let's do it."

As one, the three called out, "Detransform!"

"Damn," Dianne muttered, getting up from her seat on the floor. "Show's over, you two."

"**But I really liked it,**" Lynn grumbled, getting back into the handbag. "**Especially the part where Ash threw a tantrum.**"

"That wasn't a tantrum, that was a knee-jerk reaction to becoming a girl!" Ash protested. "It's not like it happens every day."

"_Now you shall return to your worlds at the same time you departed from them. I will send you to the nearest sanctuary from the snowstorms and forests. Until we meet again, I wish you luck."_ The Queen disappeared, and with her, the white room and Ness and Lucas.

Ash took a moment to realize that they were right next to the Pokemon Center.

"YES!"

* * *

Max looked up from the book he had been reading to find Ash and Pikachu charging through the room, Dianne and Lynn following a second later.

"We're going to have to pay for that door, you know," Dianne reminded him, then seemed to notice Max. "Oh, hey, Max. Where's May?"

Max shrugged. "I honestly have no idea," he replied. "Where have you guys been, anyway?"

"Exploring," Ash replied.

"And you wouldn't—" Dianne began, but was cut off by a glare from Ash. "Er…we brought this for you!"

And she held out a rock.

"…It's just a rock," Max finally said. "What's so special about it?"

"It's…yeah, you're right, it's just a rock." Dianne sighed, then tucked it back into her pockets. "I thought you'd like a souvenir, though."

"Thanks for the thought."

* * *

Ness immediately charged straight through the front door of the house Lucas and Flint, the younger boy's father, called home.

"Oh, hey, you two," Flint greeted them. "What took you so long?"

"We saw something really interesting in the forest—"

Ness shot Lucas a warning glare, and the blonde boy quickly backed down. "I mean, we saw absolutely nothing while exploring in the forest. Except for the occasional Coiled Snake, but nothing we couldn't handle."

Flint smiled at them. "Well, that's good. Go to bed now, kiddo, and Ness, your mom's going to kill us all if you don't get back to Onett."

"Yeah, sure, Flint," Ness distractedly replied. "Sure. Can I stay here for the night? I'm totally pooped."

* * *

_**So there you have it, folks. The epic adventure of Ash, Lucas and Ness has just begun, and there soon will be more Roulettes too. Let's see how they handle their first monster fight in the next few chapters! Oh, and Di's weird interests, too.**_

_**Read it first, then review! I swear, unless you flame me, I won't bite. And if you do, well, pray that you've got a very thick hide.**_

_**- Effy**_


	2. Episode 2: Heroes and Monsters

_**And here, you meet the Dark Emperor and his cronies. And Ash undergoes the training from hell! Except not. I'm moving this at the speed of plot, thank you very much.**_

_**Also, more reviews? Please?**_

_**

* * *

**_

_**Episode 2: **_

_**Heroes and Monsters**_

* * *

The Dark Emperor swore as he felt a throbbing headache come on.

They had come back. Those blasted Roulettes had somehow found a way to cheat death and come back.

The universe just loved to spite him, didn't it? Just when he thought he was finally free of the menace to his rule, they had come back.

But not all of them. Not at once, anyway. And that was going to be his golden opportunity. After all, if he eliminated the first three to have come back, the threats would be gone.

For good.

* * *

"Hey, Ness?"

Ness looked up from the book he had been reading to find Lucas standing in the doorway leading to the bedroom he and Flint had made out of the guestroom for Ness's frequent visits. "Yeah, Luke?" he nonchalantly replied.

"Well, since you're here," Lucas began, "I thought you'd like to cook with me." He smiled innocently—a little too innocently—at the other psychic. "Please?"

A foreboding feeling overcame Ness right then and there. Lucas's cooking was quite good and could rival his mother's, but he had heard tales of how the usually sweet young boy could, when in the kitchen, turn into someone worthy of the title of "dictator".

"Erm, thanks, but no thanks." He plastered a fake grin on his face.

Lucas's eyes watered with tears. "P-Please?" he asked.

Dammit, it was the puppy-dog eyes! No one could resist that, not even Chuck Norris, but Ness had never believed those facts.

"Look, I'm really sorry—" he began, but was caught off by the sound of Lucas bawling his heart out.

Damn, he could really turn up the crybaby act when he wanted to.

"Fine! I'll cook with you." Even as the words came out of his mouth, Ness immediately regretted it.

Half-formed thoughts ran around his head, screaming, _You're screwed, so screwed, doomed to be driven like a slave in the kitchen…_

He was never so inclined to agree with his fearful thoughts as he was now.

* * *

Ash yawned, then rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

"Man, that was a weird dream last night," he muttered to himself. "And what's weird is that it seemed so real…"

Then he looked down at his wrist, saw the red wrist comm and remembered that yes, the dream was real, and now he was doomed to have to fight crime in other dimensions and universes in an ultra-short nano-skirt.

Wait, he would enjoy the "fight crime in other dimensions and universes" part. It was just the ultra-short nano-skirt that bothered him.

"I wonder how Lucas and Ness are doing," he murmured as Pikachu, beside him, stretched the sleepiness out of its furry little body. "Bet they're having a whole lot of fun."

* * *

"IT'S NOT 10 LITERS, IT'S ONLY 10 QUARTS!" Lucas screamed at Ness as the two of them emerged from the overflowing cookie dough. "HOW ON EARTH COULD YOU MISREAD THAT? IT'S SO SIMPLE!"

* * *

"Oh, well." Ash crawled out of the tent, along the way sloppily slipping his hat on his head and putting on his jacket, and stared at the scene unfolding before him.

"…Di, what are you doing trying to cook?" he asked, right eye twitching.

"Brock is still asleep," the girl matter-of-factly responded. "In case you haven't noticed, it's early morning."

"It…is?" Ash took another look at the sky.

It wasn't as bright or as blue as he expected. In fact, it was still dark.

"You mean I woke up early without even meaning to?" he asked, his voice tinged with disbelief. "But that's—"

"It's possible for you," Dianne cut him off. "But I woke up a few minutes before you did, and I know it's not possible for me. After all, like what you said a few weeks earlier, I'm a sound sleeper."

Ash massaged his temples, then sighed. "This probably has something to do with last night," he remarked. "You know, when we met the Queen of Hope? And you were eating popcorn when we transformed?"

Dianne dramatically flinched, as if she had been hurt. "How can you say that?" she cried. "I wasn't eating popcorn at the time!"

Ash rolled his eyes before knocking the young girl on the head. "Don't lie, I saw you. You were crunching along with Pikachu and Lynn. And don't blame the Pikachu."

The girl crossed her arms in response, turning her head away. Ash had a feeling that she was pouting.

He sighed. Even if he was going to transform into one over the next few…well, months, maybe even years, he would never understand what made the female species tick.

And, honestly, he never wanted to.

* * *

The Dark Emperor watched from his seat on the Throne of Skeletons as his Generals, one old, six new, entered the throne room/war room/arcade, for some reason.

The first one was the only General that had survived from the first Roulettes' onslaught on the castle: Sharpie, wearing the rotting wooden samurai armor. He had shrunken, of course, over the years, and was now a shadow of his former handsome self. Women spurned him, men felt the burning desire to cut his throat. His extraordinary luck and strategic skills, however, had not diminished with his beauty, which was why, despite his delusions of women falling for him whenever he looked at them, Sharpie was kept around.

The second General was a young, pink-haired woman of about 28 in a pink loli dress. This was Mizuko Sakuyi, the first new General to enter into the Emperor's service. She was extraordinary in her childish personality and her ability to create the Black Hearts, the monsters they used in battling the Roulettes, and the fact that another General seemed to have fallen in love with her.

This General was the third one, Lewis/Louisa Pierre-Strong, someone who had joined in the belief that the Emperor would remove the gender-bending curse that had been put upon him/her. He/She could create a shield, a drill or a machine gun, depending on his/her moods, but lately, he/she had been forming more shields around Mizuko. The Emperor was thirsting for their blood, but knew that he couldn't do it. They were loyal to him, for now, and their abilities were useful, so he resigned himself to keeping them around.

The fourth was K'vero, a large, red-skinned, hulking, bloodthirsty beast with large and pointy horns, spikes for knuckles and rows and rows of sharp teeth. He was the Emperor's favorite General, as he was ruthless and merciless, and his eyes burned with the desire to kill and drink in the blood of his enemies. He was reckless and impatient, though, and too many times another General had to hold him back before he could destroy all their carefully laid plans with one foolish move.

The fifth was Trakeena, someone who was once beautiful if a tad impatient and, yes, evil, but was now an ugly insect-beast, due to the fog that had taken over her mind. She still wanted beauty, though, and that was something the Emperor was willing to exploit. Her brute strength could rival that of K'vero, too, and he definitely did not want to be the one that ticked her off. So he kept her.

The sixth was Astronema, separated from the now-Power Ranger Karone, sister of Andros, wearing a long purple wig and a shimmering black and gray bodysuit. She was very glad when the Emperor found a way to put her bodiless soul into a new body, and in exchange became a General for him.

The last to join, Dr. Namba, had a personal vendetta against a young boy named Ash Ketchum. Apparently, he, along with someone named Ritchie and their Pokemon, had foiled his plans and discredited him in front of Team Rocket's leader, Giovanni, and had joined up for revenge against the both of them. The Emperor knew that this "doctor", mad for power, wasn't going to be a loyal one, but for now, he was safe.

"Alright," he began in his low, sinister voice, "I believe the Roulettes are back."

"What?" Sharpie almost screamed, jumping up in his seat. "But they died! I know that! I heard of that! I saw Roulette Yellow's body, heard of Roulette Purple's death! How can they have done that?"

"Silence, Sharpie," the Emperor chided him. "Remember, we are dealing with the Roulettes here. If, before, they found ways to turn my lover against me and her vessel back towards them, they would have found a way to return from the dead!"

Sharpie sat back down, pouting in the way a child would have done.

"However," he said, his voice reverberating around the room like thunder, "as of this time, only three have returned. Who here shall be the first one to take them on and, if the Random Numbers God sees fit, restore them to zero?"

"I am the one for that task," K'vero rumbled, standing up. "I shall not disappoint you."

"No, K'vero," the Emperor replied. "Sit down. The Roulettes, at this point in time, are merely insects, not worth the time you would take up killing them and drinking their blood."

K'vero sat down, staring darkly around at the room's occupants.

"Me! Me!" Mizuko childishly yelled, jumping up and down in her beanbag chair. "I wanna be the first one to take them on!" She smiled at Lewis, currently a boy, who blushed in response. "I wanna do it with Lewis!"

"Y-Yeah," Lewis stammered, "if Mizzie goes, I'm gonna go with her too."

The Dark Emperor was silent for a moment. "I have not made my selection yet," he finally replied. "Sit down. Trakeena, speak."

"I believe I am up to this task, Emperor," the insect-woman spoke, a hint of seductiveness laced into her tone. "I will not…disappoint."

The Emperor felt the need to barf. "No, Trakeena," he dismissed, holding in the urge to do so. "You are not to attack them. You must stay, for the moment, and hone your skills."

Trakeena sat down, muttering something about "more beauty" and "a little more of those precious aphrodisiacs of Sharpie's". The Emperor gulped, taking some time before saying, "Astronema, speak."

"Trakeena couldn't even take on her Power Rangers," the Princess of Evil spoke, slamming her gloved fist down on the table, "what makes her think she can try fighting the Roulettes? The Power Rangers were powerful, yes, but these Roulettes are more powerful than them! Hell, back then, Sharpie here—" and she jabbed her thumb towards Sharpie, who waved, "—said they could bring down even the most powerful of all demons! Now that they have returned with almost nothing, let me show them what I can do without that weak Karone's conscience bogging me down!" She laughed, a dark, dark laughter that indicated purest evil. "Let me!"

Trakeena hissed at her, arching her claws. "What makes you think," she snarled, "that Karone's conscience has not seeped over to you?"

"Because I know it hasn't!" Astronema snapped, her hands clenching into a fist. "I know I would love to kill you right now!"

"Enough!" the Emperor yelled. "The two of you had better not kill each other. I will not tolerate wastes of good Generals, especially you two." He then turned to the last General. "Dr. Namba, speak."

The scientist rose to his feet. "Emperor," he began, "I can do this. I'm most fit for taking these little brats and bringing them to their knees, and bringing them here, to your feet, begging for your mercy. Give me that chance, and I will try my hardest to do so."

The Emperor felt his mouth curve into a sinister smile under his mask. "Thank you, Dr. Namba," he remarked. "Mizuko, Lewis, Dr. Namba, you have the first opportunity. Now go. The meeting has been adjourned."

* * *

Lucas felt his head start to hurt, but didn't pay much notice to it. Especially since Ness had gone back home, and he was pretty sure he'd hate whatever unorthodox remedy his dad came up with for a simple headache.

Soon, though, he felt something. Something…wrong. Something that was going to require having to transform.

But it was just a headache! Just a small headache that, for some twisted, twisted reason, intensified into a fever. Wait, it wasn't just a simple headache…

Oh, crap, he was probably experiencing a psychic fever. Ness had once told him about psychic fevers. They started as little headaches, then, as danger came ever closer, intensified into full-on fevers. It was only when you were facing off against something major, though, that they happened.

Thank God for PSI Healing and Lifeup, then. He wasn't about to lie in bed wriggling about, crying and hallucinating because of some psychic fever. No, he was made of stronger stuff than that.

He was a Roulette, after all.

Problem was, he had absolutely no idea on how to operate a wrist comm.

"Where's the portal button?" he grumbled to himself as he ran from the front porch (thank God his dad had gone out to buy some more ingredients for fried chicken), casting PSI Healing and/or Lifeup on himself every once in a while. "Come on, come on, wrist comm, show me where your portal button is. I need to use it to get to Ness's house."

Almost immediately, a swirling yellow vortex popped up in front of them.

"Er…wow."

* * *

Ness blinked, jaw having gone slack already as he watched the swirling yellow vortex that had opened up in the front yard.

A few moments after it opened up, it spat out a sweaty and probably psychic-fevered Lucas, who staggered to his feet after the portal disappeared seconds later.

"Was that a portal?" he asked. "Because I'd really like to know how it works, since I've been trying to make a portal into Ash's world since I left your house. I've got this splitting headache, you see—"

"No time!" Lucas yelled at him, grabbing the young boy by the arm and launching into a run (Ness's mom was asleep, thank goodness). "Hey, portal, open up! I need to get into Ash's world!"

To Ness's unbridled surprise, the swirling yellow vortex from before opened up again, and he found himself holding on to Lucas as he screamed all the way…

* * *

Brock had long since gotten up, and Ash was grateful for that. He did not want to taste any more of Dianne's cooking, especially the Fiery Surprise. He had to dunk his head into water just to get rid of the fire that had started on his tongue.

"**I warned you about her cooking two weeks ago!**" Pikachu ranted. "**But did you listen? Noooo, you were busy training for Roxanne's gym! Now look! This is what happens when you don't listen to those who care about you! Your tongue suffered the consequences!**"

"Pikachu, please, shut up. I need to add more water, the fire doesn't seem to be going out." And he dunked his head into the cool, refreshing water one more time. "This feels so much better…"

Something hummed behind him. Something unnatural. Something very, very out of place.

He whipped around. "Who's there?" he yelled, or would have if he didn't notice the swirling yellow vortex opening out of nowhere or it spitting out two psychics, one feverish and the other just barely containing it.

"A-Ash," Lucas gasped, casting another PSI Lifeup on himself. "I got psychic fever this morning…"

"Psychic fever?" Ash raised an eyebrow. "What's that?"

"It's a fever that PSI users experience at some point," Ness explained, massaging his temples. "Really, really, really experienced ones just get a splitting headache, but Lucas hasn't reached that level yet. It warns us of a very, very major battle up ahead, and gets worse as it comes nearer." He sighed. "And apparently, if we didn't get this before fighting Giygas or Porky or the Masked Man or Tabuu"—and he shot a worried glance at Lucas—"we're almost definitely screwed."

"You said that about Tabuu," Ash casually remarked. "Look what happened to him."

"**You know, we should get back,**" Pikachu worriedly said. "**I bet Lynn, Dianne, May, Max, Brock and the other Pokemon we left back there are getting worried about us.**"

"Pikachu's right," Ness added. "But can we stay with you? Just until the first battle passes, then we'll go back to our world." He nervously adjusted his baseball cap as he spoke.

"But Lucas…" Ash's voice trailed off, but he forced himself to continue. "He's feverish."

"I'll be just fine!" Lucas snapped, casting PSI Healing on himself. "So long as I can use PSI on myself, I'll hold my own. Don't worry about me, worry about what might happen if we lose." His tone of voice became grave as he continued, "I don't want to see what might happen to our worlds if we did. I just can't bring myself to imagine it."

"**Just say yes, Ash,**" Pikachu added. "**Lucas already said he'll be okay, so stop worrying about that and start worrying about the fact that you know absolutely nothing about combat with weapons!**"

"Never saw a need for it before," Ash countered. "Come on. I've got to introduce you two and come up with a cover story that Brock, May and Max will believe, then learn melee combat in just a short period of time."

* * *

"You met them back at the Smash Mansion?" Max asked back at the camp, stars in his eyes. "That's so cool!"

"The very fact that Pikachu and I were Smashers alongside other Pokemon and people from other universes is cool in itself," Ash replied, taking a bite out of his roasted marshmallows on a stick. "Also the fact that Samus somehow got the portal systems fixed for this world and Ness and Lucas's world so we could safely travel between them."

"Oh, Samus!" Brock suddenly cried, getting down on one knee. "You and I were meant to be together…"

"He still hasn't gotten over it, hasn't he?" Lucas remarked, chuckling faintly to himself. "Man, he's hardcore."

"He flirts with every girl he meets," May replied, thoughtfully munching on her corn flakes. "I'd call that hardcore."

"**And yet he never gets one,**" Pikachu commented as he pushed aside his now-empty food bowl, "**and that always makes me feel pretty sorry for him. Or maybe I've just been watching too much soap operas.**"

"You are," Ash sternly corrected. "Hey, Di? Take care of Pikachu for a while, and make sure he doesn't see someone slapping someone else on the TV."

* * *

They were going to train in a clearing just near enough to the camp that they could run back and forth with no problem, but just far enough that they could talk freely about being Roulettes without any fear of being overheard. Except, of course, if Di had strolled in with May by accident or something.

Ash had gotten Lucas's new bat, and had been warned by the psychic beforehand that if he broke it, he was going to have to pay quite a bit for another one.

"The first thing you need to do in fighting with a weapon," Ness explained, pacing around as he spoke, "is that you need to focus on your target. Everything has to fly out your head, and nothing else has to remain except your weapon, your opponent and how to beat him to a pulp."

"You're making this up as you go along, aren't you?" Ash dryly asked. "That sounds like a line lifted straight out from a hokey movie about karate or some other martial arts discipline." He hefted the baseball bat onto his shoulder.

"Yeah," Ness admitted, "to tell the truth, all you have to do is beat the opponent to a bloody pulp and hope to all the gods and goddesses you know that he lives so you won't have to be charged with murder or something."

"No, that's not it!" Lucas yelled from the sidelines. "You have to fight your enemy! That's all there is to fighting with a weapon!" He cast another PSI Healing on himself.

"So…" Ness dropped into a stance, holding his wooden Cracked Bat. "Are you ready?"

"Bring it on," Ash laughed, readily dropping into a battle stance and holding Lucas's new bat.

They charged at each other.

* * *

Lucas watched as Ash and Ness crossed bats with each other, softly chuckling to himself at the fact that they were basically substituting bats for swords. Then again, bats weren't sharp and pointy objects. They were blunt and used for the beautiful game of baseball.

Although they did serve their uses as weapons in everyday life.

Ash clumsily dodged the blow that came at him, but wasn't fast enough to dodge another. He crashed to the ground, probably sustaining a bump on his head.

"That's gonna hurt in the morning," Lucas commented.

Then, as Ness prepared to deal the final blow, Ash quickly swept him off his feet.

"He's a fast learner," Lucas remarked, casting another PSI Lifeup on himself. "If I keep this up, I'm probably going to end up with a headache worse than psychic fever."

Ness swiftly rolled away from the blow that Ash was going to deal him, then got up to his feet and, with a cry of "HAVE A TASTE OF THIS!", let off a PSI Rockin'.

"OW!" Ash screamed, trying to dodge the wildly bouncing beams of colorful light that seemed very much attracted to him. "DAMMIT, NESS! IT DOESN'T TASTE VERY NICE!"

"I didn't say anything about not using psychic powers, did I, Ash?" Ness smugly smirked as the Pokemon Trainer crashed to the ground yet again. "I may be your friend, Ash, but you seriously need to train yourself to your limits. And besides, I've always wanted to give someone the training from hell!"

* * *

Louisa watched, interested, as the two boys in the clearing crossed baseball bats once again.

"So these are the famous Roulettes?" she asked. "A bunch of young boys? Man, I thought they'd be girls!"

Mizuko shrugged. "Maybe the first Roulettes did die," she mused, "but then they reincarnated themselves into someone else."

"More plausible than the nutty scientist's theory here," Louisa remarked, jabbing her thumb at Dr. Namba, who had curled up into a fetal position. "Really, his worst enemy, a Roulette? Damn, the universe must hate him and the Emperor, for this to happen."

They watched as the spiky-haired boy swiftly dodged a baseball bat being thrust at him, then sloppily threw a punch that was easily caught by the boy with the red baseball cap.

"How the mighty have fallen," Louisa sighed. "The Emperor said they were the most formidable fighters the multiverse ever saw. But I dunno, this little display just goes to show that they need more time to train before taking us on."

"Which is why we are here, Pierre-Strong!" Dr. Namba hissed, having recovered from the previous revelation of Ash's being a Roulette. "We are here to stop them before they can truly return!"

"Damn, Namba," Louisa chuckled, "hanging around the Emperor's starting to rub off on you. Try using contractions and not adding a sinister tone to your voice next time, eh?"

Dr. Namba slumped back to the ground, muttering something about "damned gender-benders".

"Oooh, Louisa! Look at that! Pretty colors! And oooh! A wall made out of fire!"

Louisa snapped her eyes back to the battle going on and almost choked.

The "pretty colors" Mizuko had become fascinated with was a very powerful psychic attack. The way it appeared to people, the attack would be a bunch of wildly bouncing colorful lights that seemed unavoidable.

Yet somehow, at the last minute, the young boy with the spiky hair erected a shield of fire with a cry of "FIRE WALL", effectively shielding himself from the lethal bouncing lights of death and doom.

The expressions on every single one of their faces was absolutely priceless.

* * *

Ash had definitely not expected the first thing that came to his mind to actually work against the onslaught of psychic attacks coming at him. After all, literal walls made out of fire didn't exist in real life, right?

Because if that was true, the wall of fire that now stood before him was a product of a hallucination, and Ness was winning.

But the sensation that passed through him as he screamed out the name of the shield disproved that. The flames that made up the very large wall disproved that by licking at him.

Strangely, he felt…nothing. The flames licking at his skin didn't seem to burn him. Instead, he felt like they were…protecting him. Then again, that was what this wall was for, wasn't it?

"HOW'D YOU DO THAT?" Ness yelled over the roar of the flames. "YOU'RE NOT A PSYCHIC!"

"I CALL IT SHEER WILLPOWER, BECAUSE THAT IS ALL THERE IS TO IT!" Ash responded, kicking his voice up a notch. "WHO'S LAUGHING NOW?"

"PSI ROCKIN' OMEGA!"

Oh, fish crap.

The deadly lights crashed through the wall of flames, immediately dissolving it and leaving Ash unable to do anything but run.

And run he did. He soon noticed that while the very pretty (AND VERY LETHAL) lights were still attracted to him, there was…something off about them. Like he could outrun them…

Of course. Ness was running out of whatever powered his psychic attacks, and he could use that to his advantage.

So he did the first thing that came to mind: He tripped himself, letting the psychic attack pass harmlessly over him. Okay, sure, so maybe there was that one light that hit him right in the sensitive parts, but he would live on! And so would his genes, but in the here and now, they didn't matter.

What mattered was that Ness, one way or another, was going down.

"UNDERGROUND FIRE BLAST!"

* * *

Lucas watched in amazement as the ground underneath Ness's feet started to rumble. His friend had the good sense to run flat out, as seconds later, flames burst out like a geyser.

"OKAY, WHERE'D YOU GET THAT ONE?" Ness screamed over the roar of fire.

"I TOLD YOU ALREADY, IT IS ALL BECAUSE OF SHEER WILLPOWER!" Ash screamed back.

"Screaming match," Lucas muttered to himself, casting another PSI Lifeup. "Dammit, the fever's starting to get stronger…That only means one thing."

Ness fired off a PSI Thunder, which was easily dodged by Ash, who countered with throwing Lucas's baseball bat towards the young boy. Miraculously, the bat stayed intact when it connected with a tree instead of Ness's face. Probably the fact that Ash didn't throw it hard enough.

"Ash only knows two things so far, and has no idea on how to do hand-to-hand combat or melee combat. When he was a Smasher, the Pokemon he got did the fighting for him." Lucas smacked himself in the forehead. "We're completely, totally screwed."

"Was that a geyser of fire that he just did?" Mizuko asked, awe in her tone. "I swear, that is awesome beyond all belief."

* * *

"Remember, we're here to take them down," Dr. Namba hissed. "Make the Black Heart, girl, and do it fast."

* * *

"Did you hear that?"

Dianne looked up from the book she was reading, as Pikachu snapped its gaze onto May, who had entered the tent.

"Hear what?" she asked.

"The explosion from earlier," May clarified. "Don't tell me you didn't, that was really loud!"

"Oh. Oh. _Oh._" Dianne jumped up, grabbed Pikachu, and pushed past May as she started to run. "Have to go, I gotta see this!"

* * *

The two of them watched each other across the clearing. Ness had a headache coming on and Ash had discarded Lucas's baseball bat. Both now looked tired, worn out after their battle earlier. But it didn't seem like they would both let their legs give way—

Then they crashed to the ground.

"Ash!" Dianne yelled, just emerging from the forest beyond the clearing, holding Pikachu underneath her armpit. "What did you guys put him through, the training from hell?" she angrily asked Lucas as soon as her gaze settled on him.

He nodded in response. "Yeah, but…wow. You should have seen him, Di! He was amazing!"

"I heard the explosions," she snapped. "What the hell happened here?"

"They're tired," Lucas replied. "And the battle's getting nearer and nearer."

"Well, we've got to get to them, then!" Dianne retorted. "You heal them, then I'll tell them off for putting each other through training to this point!"

Lucas quickly fell in step behind the girl, following her as he readied another PSI Lifeup, though this time, for someone other than himself. More specifically, two people.

* * *

"They're tired!" Dr. Namba crowed. "Now's our chance! Prepare the Black Heart and it's done, Sakuyi!"

* * *

Lucas helped Ness to his feet as Dianne started chiding Ash.

"You okay, Ness?" he asked.

"I'm fine, Lucas," the other boy replied, adjusting his slightly askew baseball hat and smiling at him. "You don't have to worry about me."

Lucas let out his breath, relieved. "To be honest, I was wondering why a simple spar with baseball bats turned into something that definitely didn't use baseball bats."

Ness shrugged. "I got carried away," he simply replied.

"We both did," Ash added, snatching up his hat from the ground. "Sorry I tried to fry you to a crisp earlier."

"That was justified," Ness remarked. "I let off the Omega version of PSI Rockin'."

Ash shrugged. "Well, at least some good came out of this," he mused. "I got some attacks that I can use on my own, without any Pokemon. And I can throw stuff."

* * *

"NOW!"

* * *

"Why, hello there."

Ash whipped around and swore as he saw the familiar face of Dr. Namba, accompanied by a strangely familiar woman in a pink loli dress and a young woman in a goth outfit.

"You," he snarled, focusing all the venom in that single word towards Dr. Namba.

"Why, yes, it's me! I bet you thought you got rid of me after the whole Lugia fiasco, hm?" He flicked the newly-made Black Heart into the air. "Well, guess what? I'm back!"

The shimmering black heart landed on the ground, then started to glow with an eerie green light. Suddenly…

BANG!

It came like a gunshot. One moment, the black heart was glowing eerily, the next, it had become a monster that seemed made out of paper. Its eyes were yellow, however, and Ash was sure paper monsters were not supposed to have _very sharp claws_ or shimmering black hearts glowing an eerie green in its chest—

Well, at least it had a weak spot. At least, he hoped the eerie black heart was the weak spot.

"Time to transform?" he asked Ness and Lucas, keeping the fear in his voice to a bare minimum.

The two nodded wordlessly.

They moved as one, exposing their wrist comms.

"Magical Transform!"

"Roulette Blue!"

"Roulette Red!"

"Roulette Yellow!"

* * *

Max looked up from the book he had been reading upon hearing the sounds of…something going on in the clearing Ash, Ness, Lucas and Dianne had been in.

Instantly, his "WORRY" levels shot up. Bad enough that there was the explosion earlier, now this was happening?

He put the book aside, marking the page number in his mind, then set off, pushing past Pokemon and person alike.

* * *

For once, the ridiculously short skirt that she now wore was at the back of Ash's (or Roulette Blue's) mind. What was at the front was that the monster had snatched up Dianne and Pikachu and was now cocooning them in paper, and that she had to stop it.

"Red! Yellow!" she yelled, surprised by the authority that had somehow seeped into her voice and the ease with which she used the colors in place of their names. "Charge that monster with the strongest attacks you've got!" Damn, being a Pokemon Trainer made giving commands easy!

"Alright!" Roulette Yellow started running, letting momentum build up, then jumped, launching herself at the hand in which Dianne and Pikachu were now being cocooned. "PK FLASH!"

A green ball of crackling PSI emerged from her hand, growing in size all the while until it cut off the hand of the monster, freeing the female Pokemon Trainer (who was spouting curses and very harsh words towards the monster about its bathroom habits) and the furry yellow electric Pokemon from their paper tombs, except now, well…

They were falling.

Blue swore under her breath, then started running, half-formed thoughts running around her head like squirrels on a sugar rush.

_Oh, no, they're falling too fast, I'll never make it in time, please don't die on me, please don't die on me, don't hit the ground, I'll never forgive myself if you die because I wasn't fast enough…_

Then Max came charging out of the bushes, just in time for one Trainer and one yellow rodent to land on him, immediately knocking all three out.

Blue again swore as she reached them, checking for a pulse for all three then looking up from them and staring, slack-jawed, in awe at the sight she now beheld: Yellow yelling, "CRUSHING VINES!" at the top of her voice and vines rising out of the ground, surrounding the monster before it could launch a single paper projectile towards them.

* * *

Roulette Yellow hadn't really expected the first thing she called out to actually _work_, much less be able to surround and suffocate the monster.

"Great job, Yellow!" Red yelled. "After this, I'm gonna—WATCH OUT FOR THAT PAPER MISSILE!"

Yellow swore before leaping to the right. Sure enough, a giant paper airplane slammed into the area where she once was.

"Phew, that was a close one," Red remarked as Yellow landed at her feet and looked up to find the monster bursting through the bonds. "And it looks like our fearless leader is trying to hack away at that—DID IT JUST REGENERATE THE ARM YOU CUT OFF EARLIER?"

Indeed, the paper monster had regenerated the arm Yellow had cut off earlier, which was now currently being hacked off _again_ by Roulette Blue, who seemed to be very, very angry at the monster and was now bellowing swear words like a drunk sailor.

"Oh, this is quite entertaining!" crowed the doctor that seemed to have a history with Ash/Blue. "If not a little childish...Sakuyi, perhaps you need not to obsess over your usefulness in battle. After all, without you, we couldn't make Black Hearts."

The girl nodded, then hugged the other girl, who quickly hugged her back, face colored red.

Black Hearts…so that was what their monsters were called. Yellow filed that away under "Must tell newbies in case they join up", focusing instead on grabbing Red and yanking her out of the way of a surprise attack consisting of, oh, _twenty-something paper missiles with very pointy tips speeding towards her sixty-five miles per hour or faster_.

Oh, they never signed up for this.

* * *

Blue let the Fire Sword (it was her attack, and she reserved the right to name it, and besides, it seemed to have a will of its own) pass through the arm of the monster, leaving lethal flames in its wake, licking hungrily at the paper monster.

The monster didn't seem very happy about this development, but then again, it didn't seem very happy that she had summoned up the Fire Sword.

_**What the hell are you doing, kid?**_

There was a voice in her head! Warning alarms blared in her mind, going "NOT A GOOD SIGN" over and over again.

_**Hey, stop that! My ears are sensitive!**_

Right. Sure. How a voice could have ears, Blue had no idea. And she wasn't very sure she wanted to know either.

The monster immediately knocked her to the ground with a very loud THUD.

_**AIM FOR THE BLACK HEART!**_ the voice screamed in her head.

Well, she'd do better than aiming for the black heart in the center of the monster's chest.

"UNDERGROUND FIRE BLAST!"

* * *

Dr. Namba's jaw dropped as he watched the flames burst out from below the ground and consume the Black Heart in seconds.

"No one apparently took into account that paper is an easily flammable material, did they?" Louisa dryly remarked. "Because Blue can apparently control fire."

Mizuko was now crying against Louisa's chest over the loss of the Black Heart. "They killed Scribbles!" she sobbed.

"Well, your precious Scribbles was weak to fire!" Dr. Namba snapped. "You should have known that!"

"Shut up, Mr. I-Lost-To-A-Roulette-Before-He/She-Even-Became-One," Louisa retorted. "Maybe you should have thought of that, too."

Dr. Namba opened his mouth as to reply, then thought better of it and said instead, "Let's just go and report this failure to the Emperor. He's not going to be happy with any of us about this."

Louisa sighed, watching the swirling blood-red vortex open in front of them. "Go ahead and tell them that you'll be back," she replied, stepping through while still holding a crying Mizuko. "But I'm pretty sure the Emperor's not going to like you being late."

"I'll be back, Roulettes!" Dr. Namba yelled, then stepped through after Louisa and Mizuko.

In the blink of an eye, all three vanished, leaving the ashes of the monster behind.

* * *

Ash, Ness, Lucas and Dianne had to explain things to Max after that.

"So," the bespectacled boy began, "you ran across three crystals last night, and they gave you the power to transform into girls."

Dianne shook her head. "Not me," she corrected. "I got nothing."

Max sighed. "Well, except for Dianne and the Pokemon," he noted.

"And for that we are all glad," Ash dryly remarked. "Imagine how much worse off we'd have been if Di was a Roulette."

"Hey!" the girl in question protested. "I'd be heck of a lot more awesome as a Roulette." She crossed her arms and pouted.

"You're pretty short," Ash replied. "I'd say that wouldn't qualify as being awesome."

If looks could kill, Ash would have been dead a thousand times over.

* * *

"Hey, you five! Hurry up, your lunches are getting cold!" Brock yelled to the five as they stumbled through the bushes. "It's not as tasty when it's cold!"

* * *

"You _failed!_" the Emperor bellowed, slamming his fist down on the table. "I thought you would do as you had promised, and cut down the Roulettes before they even added anyone else. But no, you just had to botch this up! Leave my sight now, before I decide to punish you for your failure!"

Dr. Namba hurriedly left the throne room, with a still-sobbing Mizuko and a now-male Lewis in tow.

* * *

_Lillian? Can you hear me, Lillian?_

_**Loud and clear, ma'am.**_

_Ah, good. How is Ash?_

_**He's a fine kid, definitely. I never thought I'd have a Pikachu for a starter, a weirdo fangirl for my girlfriend, or a Coordinator, a former Gym Leader and a Coordinator's brother as traveling companions, much less becoming a boy in the next life.**_

_All well and good, Lillian. Make sure not to talk to him too much. He seems to be trying to keep his sanity, and I wouldn't blame him._

_**Of course. Who wouldn't want to keep her—I mean, his sanity after being told all the fantastic stuff you told us back then?**_

_Don't worry, Lillian. Everyone else will awaken soon. Perhaps. What you must do, for now, is to aid him in battle. And try to keep the snide comments to yourself._

_**I'm in his head, ma'am. How the hell am I supposed to keep my thoughts to myself? Won't that be pretty hard for me to do?**_

_Ah, but don't worry. Soon, you'll meet someone who can help with that, but for now, well, both of you share a mind._

_**This confirms my suspicions: my and Ash's lives are certified goddamned messes.**_

_And watch your language. You're talking to the Queen here. Keep the snide comments for later._

_

* * *

_

_**If the fight scene stinks, say so! It's my first time writing a magical-girls fic, after all. I won't mind.**_

_**Also, whoa, 18 pages in Word! This chapter is officially the longest chapter I have ever written. Ever.**_

_**Read and review!**_

_**- Effy**_


	3. Episode 3: Sunflower Memories

_**Still no reviews? Sheesh! It's like practically no one reads this story! So, here, someone from Lucas's past returns. Now who could it be? Read on and find out in the first part of the 2-part "Stronger Than Steel" arc!**_

_**

* * *

**_

_**Episode 3:  
Sunflower Memories**_

* * *

The wind blew and bushes rustled all around the young boy as he walked the familiar path towards the cemetery. In his hand, he held two sunflowers, one for his mother and one for his brother.

Soon, he found the two simple tombstones that marked their graves. Sitting down, he planted the sunflowers, one on each grave, then started to talk.

"Hey, Mom, Claus. Remember when I told you last week that life couldn't get any weirder than the knowledge that you remade the world?" He chuckled, more to himself than to anyone else. "I was proven wrong a few days ago, when I found myself and Ness in this cave with two glittering crystals floating right there, in midair. Both of us fell under their spell, and next thing we knew, we were in a white room with Ash and his girlfriend, and Pikachu.

"We were pretty surprised to see each other again after eight months. Ash introduced us to his girlfriend—her name is Dianne, and she's a Pokemon Trainer too, though she's kinda strange—and then the crystals disappeared and…well, that's when things got weird." He drew his knees up to his chest as he spoke. "This woman—she's called the Queen of Hope—appeared out of nowhere and told us that we were the Roulettes, and that we were supposed to save the multiverse from this evil guy called the Dark Emperor. We were all pretty shocked at this little revelation, but here's where it gets downright crazy.

"She said we were girls in a past life, and now we have to transform into girls to fight crime." He sighed. "I don't blame you if you won't believe me. I could barely believe it myself. All the time, up until our first battle against a monster just a few days ago, I thought I was in a dream or a coma or something, and that I'd wake up soon enough. Of course, I realized it was real when we fought against a monster made out of paper. Yes, paper. And the villains called it a Black Heart. I think it's probably 'cause it grows from a black heart that glows eerily green.

"How are you guys in heaven, anyway?" He laughed, a smile creeping onto his face as he looked up. "I bet it's got all the luxuries for your tired hands and feet, just for mothers, and video games, comic books and action figures, just for boys like Claus. I bet you're both singing with the angels right now, smiling at everyone who tries to do good in the world to balance out the evil going on all around us. I bet you're both bonding with each other right now, guiding me, Ness and Dad through all the ups and downs of life, especially now. I bet that right now, you're both picking sunflowers, to give to people when they die and go to heaven." The smile on the boy's face grew bittersweet, and he let out an audible sigh. "I know this is probably going to sound a little selfish, but if I ever go to heaven, can you set aside the best sunflowers, just for me? Then again, in heaven, all the sunflowers are pretty high-quality, aren't they?"

He stood up, tears brimming in his eyes.

"See you next week."

And with that, he left.

* * *

"Enter," the Emperor said, flipping through the files on the identities of the first three Roulettes to come back as he sat in his seat in the very large library.

A certain old man in rotting samurai armor came inside, looking absolutely beat-up, which didn't stop him from kneeling before the Emperor.

"What is it? Tell me before I decide to blast you." The Emperor didn't look up from the files.

"I assume you have looked through the new Roulette Yellow's files, right?" Sharpie asked, his breathing ragged.

"I have. And I have discovered some very interesting things…" He leaned over, bright, sinister eyes meeting with Sharpie's dull ones. "For example, did you know that he once had a brother named Claus, who fell victim to this Porky Minch and became his commander? And that, eight months ago, his world was recreated after pulling the seven needles necessary to awaken the Dark Dragon? And that his brother died?"

Sharpie swallowed, a very audible sound. "I have, sire," he replied. "And I have a plan…"

Under his helmet, the Emperor let a slow smile into his face. "Do tell."

* * *

"Twin Stone Badges," Dianne cooed, holding up her and Ash's Stone Badges in such a way that they reflected the sunlight. "Even though we didn't get them at the same time, but man, I can't wait till we get to Dewford Gym!"

"**Me neither!**" Lynn agreed.

"I'm going to train myself to the limit!" Ash announced, grinning as he spoke. "Dewford Town, here we—"

"Oh, look, Ash!" May suddenly squealed, pointing towards the large restaurant just up ahead. "…Wild-Psyduck Burger?"

Brock shrugged. "Apparently it's a popular restaurant around here," he remarked. "It even got a 5-star rating somewhere, and people say their burgers are so addictive, you'll have cleaned out your wallet by the time you finish!"

"Guys, let's not go there," Max suggested. "We're trying to save our money for the boat we're going to get on."

His suggestion fell on deaf ears, however, as Dianne and May had quickly started running towards the restaurant, yelling "BURGERS!" all the way there.

"We're going to have to pay for the tab they're going to run up, aren't we?" Ash asked, depressed. "And I saved so much…"

"May…" Max's hand covered his eyes.

"Girls are insane," Brock commented, with a hint of sagely wisdom to his tone.

Ash and Max nodded in agreement.

"Completely," the bespectacled not-yet-a-Trainer added.

* * *

Ness watched as Lucas walked by the front porch of his house, head bowed and without the twin sunflowers he had earlier brought along on his way to the graveyard.

"Hey, Lucas," he greeted him. "Did you tell them?"

The other boy wordlessly nodded.

"Good." He smiled. "Come on, Mom baked chocolate chip cookies, the perfect snack. Well, besides hamburgers, anyway."

A smile crept across Lucas's face. "How does your mom know all the best snacks for lifting people's spirits?" he asked as the two of them hurried inside.

Ness shrugged in reply. "No idea," he answered. "But whatever it is, it's worked so far!"

* * *

_This was a dream. Ash knew that, as he had fallen asleep in the Pokemon Center after the spending spree at Wild-Psyduck Burger._

_Reality, after all, wasn't a grey landscape with almost nothing interrupting the one color except for that girl in the blue outfit that almost exactly like the one Ash wore as Roulette Blue._

"_You're the past me, right?" Ash asked her._

_The girl smiled, nodding. "Lillian Crane," she introduced herself, holding out her hand for him to shake. "I've been waiting for the chance to meet you in your dreams."_

"_What do you mean, you've been waiting?" There was wind in the dream, though, and he felt it caressing his skin. "You could've just talked to me at any time before this mess."_

_The girl bristled at that, then turned her back on him. "It's not a mess, Ash," she informed him. "I'm sure as hell not supporting it, of course, but you have to realize that it's a pretty sweet deal."_

_Ash rolled his eyes in response. "I turn into a girl that looks exactly like you to fight off something that I don't even know about," he bit off. "Excuse me if I'm a guy and feel uncomfortable turning into a girl."_

_Lillian sighed, then turned back around. "You have a point," she admitted, "but you still shouldn't call it a mess. To me, it's more of an opportunity in disguise. You can see other worlds and try things that the Pokemon world doesn't have!" She stretched her hands out as far as she could to emphasize her point. "All you need to do in return is to fight off the occasional monster."_

"_You're being cheerful about this," Ash observed._

_The girl gave a bitter smile. "Yeah, I am," she replied. "Just make sure the kid who used to be Amelia will be fine, 'kay? If I'm going to be in your head, I want you to do what I couldn't do for her, Erika and Claudia." Her voice had taken on a melancholy tone, and now she changed, slowly._

_The tall build melted away to a short height, shorter than him, and the long auburn hair became a boyish, strawberry-blonde cut hidden under a cowboy hat. The blouse separated into a blue denim jacket and a pink shirt underneath, while the skirt became long pants accompanied by cowboy boots and the belt used for keeping Pokeballs. The fingerless glove had simply disappeared altogether._

"_They deserved better," she murmured, and suddenly there was a large tree between them and they were both leaning against it. Ash dimly wondered where the tree came from, but as this was a dream, dismissed it._

"_I know," he replied._

_He heard her sigh in response. "I always wondered, before I died and got reincarnated into you, that if I had just decided to surrender to the Emperor and let him make me his lover's vessel, Amelia and Claudia would've had the chance to live out full lives, never mind mine."_

"_Things could've been worse if you did surrender to—hey, who's the Emperor? And Amelia and Claudia?"_

_She laughed. "Haven't you been listening to the Queen's story? The Emperor's the guy who took down her kingdom and made her shatter this big crystal into smaller pieces."_

_A large, colorful crystal in the shape of a diamond appeared in front of Ash. "And this is what you think it looked like?" he asked Lillian._

"_Crystals don't have the same shape from one to the other," his past life responded. "But yeah, that's what I think it looked like before getting shattered."_

_The colorful crystal then dissolved into smaller ones that was soon scattered by the wind, turning the grey landscape into a beautiful sunset framed by tall mountains, with bird Pokemon flying and squawking overhead._

"_I'm going to guess that the Emperor wanted to take over the universe, and the crystal was going to be what gave him the power to do so," he said as he watched the scene unfolding before his eyes. "Then the Queen did that one in when she shattered it, but why not go for the crystals when no one found them?"_

"_Believe me, he tried," Lillian answered, "but he couldn't get to mine or Erika's or Amelia's before we activated it."_

"_And again I ask, who's Amelia, Erika and Claudia?"_

_She laughed again. "Amelia's the first Roulette Yellow, and your ice-cream kid's past life."_

_A light clicked on in Ash's mind. "You mean…" his voice trailed off._

"_Yeah," Lillian confirmed. "She was the one who sacrificed herself for me."_

_Silence fell over the two of them, blanketing them like a mother would a child before Ash finally spoke._

"_Do you think it'll happen again?" he asked her. "Lucas is too young to die, and he's been through a lot to just…go through becoming a 'vessel' for whoever became the Emperor's lover." He sighed, remembering the haunted look in Lucas's eyes back when they were going to rescue Ness. "He's a good kid."_

"_Amelia was a good kid too," Lillian countered. "Didn't stop her from dying in Claudia's arms."_

"_Who's Claudia?"_

"_Amelia's sister. She was something of a rebel, which was probably why she ran away from home, but she cared about Amelia." The girl's melancholy tone had intensified as she spoke and reminisced. "Hey, I have to ask, who did Claudia reincarnate into?"_

_Ash bit his lip, remembering what Lucas had said about his brother. "No idea," he lied, knowing full well that Claudia had reincarnated into someone who had died already. "And who's Erika?" he asked, changing subjects._

_Lillian laughed again. "Most reckless girl I've ever seen," she chuckled. "She was a tiger, but at the same time, her heart was in the right place."_

"_Sounds like a certain baseball-loving, older-than-he-looks psychic that I know," Ash joked._

"_Yep, definitely."_

And then he woke up.

* * *

"Your mom makes great cookies, Ness," Lucas commented, munching on the chocolate chip cookie Ness's mother had baked for them.

"Obviously," Ness agreed, taking another bite out of his cookie. "I wouldn't be eating her food if she didn't! It's required."

Lucas laughed. "She reminds me of my mom, before…well, you know." His voice took on a nostalgic tone. "Mom cooked really well, and I learned how to cook things from her. Served me well later on, since Dad couldn't cook even if his life depended on it."

Ness gagged at the mention of Flint's cooking. "Why'd you have to bring that up?" he complained. "And I tried so hard in burying them, too…"

"Bury them again," Lucas casually dismissed. "Besides, it's not like we're discussing Dad's cooking here."

"Well, yeah, but—"

"So we should enjoy our cookies," Lucas interrupted the other boy before he could even say anything, "not bringing up bad memories."

"Point," Ness remarked.

And so they ate their cookies together in silence as they watched the sunset, and it wasn't long before both boys dozed off, leaning against each other.

* * *

Sharpie watched in interest as the Emperor dug up the ingredients necessary for the spell they were to conduct on Yellow and Red's world.

"Sire," he began, "I do believe you've mixed up the tears of Isis with the peyote."

The Emperor quickly took the said plant off the table.

"There," he irritatedly replied, "fixed. Now, kindly shut up."

* * *

_Lucas blinked, realizing that the sunflower field surrounding him was a product of his dreams. He had fallen asleep next to Ness, after all, and it would've taken some time for him to get to the nearest sunflower fields._

_Which was why he wasn't surprised to hear a strangely familiar voice behind him._

"_Good to see you, Luke," the familiar feminine voice greeted him. "Or should I say, good to see me."_

_The young boy turned around to find a tall girl dressed in the same revealing outfit as his Roulette Yellow form, smiling quite maternally at him._

"_It's Lucas," he corrected._

"_Luke sounds much better," the girl retorted. "I'm Amelia, by the way. The first Roulette Yellow and your past life, though I bet you already figured that out."_

"_Oh, no, I didn't," Lucas dryly remarked, sarcasm dripping from his every word before his eyes widened in surprise. "Wait, did I just—"_

"_Yeah," she confirmed. "Don't worry, the sarcasm and dry remarks are packaged with being a Roulette. You'll need them in the battles up ahead."_

"_Oh." Then he quickly changed the subject. "So you conjured up this field?" he asked her._

_Amelia shook her head in response. "It was all you," she replied. "But I do appreciate the fact that you like the same kind of flowers that I do. I missed seeing them." She bent down, plucking a sunflower from the soil. "I always associated sunflowers with hope," she remarked, smiling._

_Lucas bit his lip, remembering what had happened to Claus and what the Queen had said happened to Amelia. "Do you still think of them that way?" he tentatively asked._

"_Yeah," she answered, pulling herself back up to a standing position. "Hope's something no one should give up on, after all, even after all the stuff they've been through." She closed her eyes and held the sunflower tightly to her chest._

_As Lucas looked on, some of the tall girl's height melted away, revealing a girl only slightly taller than he was, and her hair had changed color, from yellow to ebony black, like Ash's hair, and seemed to have grown quite enough for her to be keeping it in a ponytail. The outfit had also faded away, replaced by a long-sleeved blue-and-green striped sweater with long, denim pants and shoes like what he was wearing._

"_Thank God that outfit's gone," Amelia cheerily said as she opened her eyes. "I have absolutely no idea why I got the provocative uniform fit for a stripper while everyone else…well…" She trailed off._

"_The Random Numbers God hates us," Lucas decided. "For some reason. Or maybe we ticked off some overly-powerful god or goddess up there."_

"_Haters gonna hate," she joked. "Or probably some lawyers decided to file a lawsuit against the Queen or something, I dunno."_

_He laughed along with her, then silence blanketed the two of them like the sunflowers blanketed the landscape before Amelia spoke._

"_You be careful out there, kid," she said, her tone much more serious. "There's all kinds of things that can and will happen to you now that you're a Roulette." The wind blew around them, rustling the sunflowers and ruffling their hair. "And make sure you live your life to the fullest, too. You never know when you're going to die, after all."_

"_Yeah," he murmured, remembering Claus's and Amelia's fates again. "So, will there be another really big battle coming up?"_

_Amelia sighed. "Definitely, from what I can remember of the Emperor," she answered. "He always strikes with a monster when he has a plan cooking up his sleeve to distract the Roulettes from his big plans, or just out and out sends a General—that's his most trusted soldiers—out to fight and carry his plans out. I think I heard somewhere that it's one of the most effective villain tactics, and I daresay he's got one already prepared. Heck, I can even say with certainty that he's probably about to try carrying out a plan for resurrecting someone who you loved to hurt you."_

_Lucas gulped, picturing Claus's appearance as the Masked Man, staring at him with soulless eyes. Predictably, it appeared in front of them, and Amelia faltered before continuing._

"_He's the type to take some time in planning, though," she added, and the picture dissolved into dust, carried by the wind. "Mr. Perfectionist."_

"_He didn't seem to have a plan when we were attacked in the clearing," Lucas mused._

"_That's 'cause he was trying to stop us before we posed a bigger threat to his plans," Amelia observed. "He was also trying to see if we could still threaten them even if it was just three of us."_

"_Three?" Lucas questioned._

_Amelia gave him a small smile. "I'm just a voice in your head, Luke," she reminded him. "And, if they awaken, the others, too. All we can do is guide you, not fight for you. That's how lazy people do it, not how the Roulettes, and heroes in general, do it."_

_Lucas smiled back. "That's true," he agreed._

"_I'll do my best to guide you, kid," she promised him. "But only if you do your best, believe in yourself, no matter how clichéd that line sounds or how tough your enemies are, and show the Emperor no mercy."_

"_I could do the first two parts," Lucas distractedly replied, "but I don't know about the last one…"_

"_Believe in me who believes in you," Amelia recited, grinning, "and your drill will be the drill that will pierce the heavens."_

And then he woke up.

* * *

It was night-time, and the full moon was not covered by the clouds. If anyone would've looked at the graveyard at that time, they would've noticed the faint outline of a young boy of about 13 years of age, wearing a teal-and-yellow striped shirt and blue shorts, with red hair and unnaturally red eyes pacing about and muttering to himself.

This was Claus, or rather, his spirit, having somehow returned to Earth, though no one knew exactly why.

"_Something's wrong,"_ he muttered to himself, brushing aside the bangs falling into his eyes. _"I just don't see what it's got to do with pulling me from heaven as a ghost!"_

Suddenly, he heard the unmistakable sound of one pair of footsteps, rhythmically and swiftly making their way towards the graveyard, stopping him in his tracks.

"_Isn't it a little too late to be visiting the graveyard?"_ he asked no one in particular before his eyes narrowed in suspicion. _"They're probably former Pigmasks or something,"_ he growled as he turned around. _"Well, I won't let them come near anyone here."_

His suspicions proved unfounded, though, as Lucas and Ness stepped through the gate, out of breath and looking like they had been through better days.

"Are you sure, Lucas?" Ness skeptically asked. "You can't exactly trust a dream or voices in your head…"

"I'm pretty sure this Emperor guy that the Queen told us about is going to come here!" Lucas said in between gasps for breath, sounding pretty worried. "And besides, I'm worried about Claus…"

Claus couldn't help but smile a little as he heard Lucas's words. Even when he was dead, Lucas still cared about him.

"_I'm really worried about you too, Lucas,"_ he whispered, not expecting anyone to hear or understand it, for, after all, ghosts weren't exactly audible, and when they were, people had the unfortunate tendency of not understanding the ghost, whether it be a mistake in communication or the fact that some ghosts couldn't speak a single language well after they died (except for "Growl-ish").

So he was surprised when Lucas looked straight at him, unnoticed by Ness, who had launched into a tirade about how you couldn't trust voices in your head or your dreams when you were a psychic, as you were easily susceptible to manipulation and suggestion and whatnot.

"…Claus?" Lucas disbelievingly said.

"_Lucas!"_ Claus joyfully cried, running forward, arms outstretched to hug his brother…

And passing right through them.

"Did you feel something, Lucas?" Ness asked the other boy, oblivious to Claus, who had somehow tripped behind him and was now getting back up, dusting himself off.

Claus mentally slapped himself, scolding himself for not realizing that he was a ghost and that naturally, he'd pass right through people. That put much of a hindrance on his plans to catch up on how Lucas had been doing (besides the whole "Oh, look, I can transform into a magical girl" thing that Lucas talked to him and Mom about earlier) and eat Ness's mom's cookies. Only Ness had told him about that on one of his visits to the graveyard, but that wasn't important.

"Ness, someone's behind you," Lucas told Ness in as calm a voice as he could possibly muster.

Ness's head slowly turned and his eyes locked on Claus's faint outline.

"_Hi, Ness,"_ Claus casually greeted him, as if Ness's eyes weren't bugging out, he wasn't a ghost, they weren't in the graveyard and it was just a normal day. _"It's nice to see you again, and not under Porky, too. Kinda wish we met again under circumstances better than this."_

"C-Claus?" Ness stammered, which was unusual for him, from what Claus had discerned from his visits and their meetings back when they were both under Porky's control. "H-How?"

"_I have no idea,"_ Claus admitted, _"but I intend to find out exactly why I got back as a ghost. In the meantime, your eyes are bugging out, and it's creeping me out a little."_

"Well, excuse me!" huffed Ness. "I'm just surprised to see you!" He crossed his arms and pouted childishly.

Lucas laughed. "I'm just as surprised to see you too, Claus," he warmly said, smiling. "If it weren't for your being intangible and all, I'd hug you right now!" His expression soon turned dark, however, and he spoke the next few words in a grim tone. "And I think someone wants to use your body for something that definitely isn't good."

"_Probably why I was brought back here in the first place,"_ Claus mused. _"To try and avert it, whatever this threat is."_

Ness nodded in agreement. "I have a feeling it's connected to the Emperor," he whispered, but apparently wasn't soft enough.

Lucas clenched his fists, his fingers digging into his skin so hard that he drew blood, while Claus swore silently to himself.

"L-Lucas! You're bleeding…"

The boy didn't seem to notice.

* * *

Max watched as Dianne and Ash battled against each other, Pikachu moving with unsurprising speed and Bright, Dianne's Ralts, holding her own against the electric mouse's attacks. Currently Bright had somehow gotten into the air with Pikachu on the ground, but judging from Brock's shocked face, he didn't want to know what happened before he came over.

"BRIGHT, PSYCHIC!"

Pikachu quickly dodged the colorful beam coming at him, and just in time, as the attack hit the spot where he was just a few seconds before, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Predictably, Bright couldn't see where Pikachu was, as she now found herself moving around with arms flailing about in front of her in a desperate attempt to find a solid object.

This was all Ash needed.

"Pikachu! Thunderbolt!"

Lightning shot through the cloud of dust, and it didn't take long for Bright to be zapped through with a strong current and thrown back out of the dust.

"Bright!" Dianne cried out. "You okay?"

"Ralts…" Bright groaned, but got up from her prone position on the ground soon enough. "Ralts!"

"All right!" She thrust her hand out, pointing towards Pikachu. "Let's give Ash and Pikachu a battle they'll never forget! HIDDEN POWER!"

Bright circles appeared over Bright's head, forming into rings that surrounded the glowing Psychic-type before she let loose with a white beam.

Pikachu couldn't avoid in time and was sent flying into the nearest tree.

"Pikachu!" Ash cried out, rushing over to his Pokemon. "You okay, little buddy?"

"**I see dead people…**" the electric mouse intoned before fainting, eyes turning into little swirls.

"You did a great job, Pikachu," he murmured, holding the Pokemon tight before standing up and smiling at Dianne. "I'm going to get you next time, Di!" he promised, though the teasing tone in his voice revealed that he wasn't very serious about it.

"Ahahahahaha!" Dianne laughed as she spun around, Bright following. "Fall before the might of Bright's Hidden Power, sucker!"

Max rolled his eyes, sighing. What had their lives come to?

* * *

"Mizzie?" Lewis called out, walking through the dark corridors of the Dark Emperor's palace, one that used to be the Palace of Crystals. "Where are you?"

Mizuko had, after the failure of their first mission, retreated to wandering the hallways by night and locking herself in her room by day, most probably to cry over it. Dr. Namba had only made it worse for her by telling her that besides making Black Hearts, she was completely, totally useless.

As if his opinion mattered. Lewis knew the scientist was a joke, only kept around because the Emperor thought him useful. How useful was someone who insulted the girl who made the Black Hearts, anyway?

At least, that was what he was telling himself as he walked up to the familiar pink door. He didn't want to face the fact that he had fallen in love with the woman, that she had captivated him and captured his heart, that he was willing to risk everything to be with her.

Evil didn't work that way, after all.

He knocked on the pink door, then called out, "Mizzie?"

A few moments later, Mizuko slowly opened the door enough for her to peek through the crack. "Lewis?" she asked through sniffles and sobs.

"You okay?" he asked her. Mentally, he slapped himself. Of course she wasn't, the sniffling and the sobbing and the crying was evidence to the contrary!

This, however, seemed to work for him, as Mizuko opened the door a little more, moving out of the way to let him in.

Lewis winced at the sight of the room. The main theme seemed to be "Pretty In Pink", with the occasional yaoi and yuri posters on the wall. The canopy bed was also pink with white pillows, and the pink shelf was full of manga covered with pink paper.

Still, Mizuko was crying. And he felt it his duty to stop her from crying, or at least give her a shoulder to do so.

So he did.

* * *

It was nighttime, and two people and one ghost had decided to set up camp in the cemetery. One boy had already gone off to sleep, the other boy and the ghost stayed up.

"Do you remember heaven?" the boy asked.

The ghost shook his head. _"All I remember of heaven is a vast field of sunflowers and Mom,"_ he replied.

"So you do have sunflowers in heaven," the boy mused. "Are they better than the sunflowers here on Earth?"

"_I don't remember much of heaven. But I think they lasted forever."_

"Good to know."

"_How have you been?"_

"Didn't I tell you about it all?"

"_Point taken. Still, I think there are some things you didn't tell me about."_

"Yeah, I never really got around to mentioning the weird girl Ash—that's the Pokemon Trainer I told you about once—likes."

"_Oh? Tell me all about her."_

"She's a Pokemon Trainer too, and from what I recall, she's sorta…perverted."

"_Can't be that bad."_

"I saw her looking at Ash like she wanted to jump him when we transformed for the first time. Then she looked at me and Ness the same way."

"_Well. That's a surprise. How can your friend like someone like her?"_

"They probably became friends when they were younger, and just recently reunited. I think."

"_Shoot. Hey, do you know what sunflowers stand for?"_

"Hope, definitely. Probably not for others, but it works for me."

"_Thought so. Works for me, too."_

"…What do you think will happen?"

"_I guess I'll go back after whatever's about to happen does happen. And then we'll meet again in heaven."_

"I sure hope so."

Silence blanketed the two of them before the ghost spoke.

"_I missed you, Lucas."_

"I missed you too."

* * *

_**Sappy. I know. Do me a favor and review, please? I thrive on them.**_


	4. Episode 4: One Last Chance

_**Guess it was too much for me to ask for at least one review. Still, at least read the story! I need to know what I'm doing wrong or right. Anyway, here, a battle goes down. How will it end? Find out in the second and final part of the "Stronger Than Steel" arc!**_

* * *

**_Episode 4:_**  
**_One Last Chance_**

* * *

No sooner had Ness fallen asleep, however, did he snap his eyes open and start cursing up a blue streak.

"_NESS! Calm down! There are kids here!"_ Claus chided him. _"What happened, anyway?"_

Ness took a deep breath, then said, "They're coming. I don't know why, but I'm pretty sure there's going to be a big battle up ahead." He looked at Lucas, who was already pressing buttons on his wrist comm. "And I have a feeling we're going to need more than two psychics and one ghost."

Ash had barely rubbed the sleep out of his eyes when Lucas called him. As the communicator was pretty _loud_, he snapped out of whatever remnants of sleep was left to him and responded before it could also wake up the rest of his sleeping companions.

"What?" he snapped at the young boy.

"You should come over here, now," Lucas replied, unfazed by the other's angry tone. "There's going to be a battle up ahead. Ness told us."

Ash blinked, then sighed. "Is Ness…erm, feverish or something?" he asked. "You did talk about psychic fever…"

Lucas sighed. "It's kinda on and off," he explained. "Sometimes I get it, sometimes Ness gets it, sometimes it just doesn't come at all. I have no idea why it works like that."

Ash felt the beginnings of a sweat-drop forming on his head as an awkward silence fell over the both of them. "I'm coming," he finally spoke. "I'll bring Pikachu along, too."

* * *

Trakeena chuckled to herself as she holstered the new Restora gun, thinking of all the chaos she could wreak upon the two Roulettes' home world with just this one gun! If only they had enough ingredients for more…

But this would do. One spell bullet would do just fine. After all, ordinary bullets had single-handedly ripped thousands upon thousands of lives to shred. How much more damage could one enchanted bullet do?

She laughed, a wicked, dark laughter that echoed throughout the halls, then turned to Mizuko and Lewis, eyes aflame with an unmistakable determination.

"We leave in an hour," she declared. "Prepare whatever items you're going to use against the Roulettes."

* * *

The first thing Ash and Pikachu saw as they exited the portal was a close-up view of the ground in the cemetery, courtesy of the awkward position they had found themselves in.

"Ow…" Ash moaned.

"**Ouch…**" Pikachu groaned. "**Did you get the license plate of the truck that hit me?**"

"Unfortunately, no," a familiar voice dryly responded. "Get up, we have to stay alert."

Ash got to his feet, brushing off the dirt that had gotten on him. "Hey, Ness," he greeted the psychic boy. "So why'd you…"

He trailed off upon seeing the faint outline of a young boy with red hair and eyes, about the same height as Lucas and wearing a teal-and-yellow striped shirt.

"_You must be Ash,"_ the ghost remarked. _"I'm Claus."_

"Yeah, Lucas told me about you," Ash sheepishly replied, scratching the back of his neck. "But aren't you dead?"

"**Stranger things have happened,**" Pikachu intoned. "**Like you being a—**"

"I get your point, Pikachu," Ash chided him, throwing in a death glare to rival all death glares at him. "Knock it off."

* * *

Astronema watched in contempt as the mentally unstable Trakeena walked by on her way towards the teleporter room (or to refer to its informal name as given by Sharpie, "That Stupid Gadget That Keeps Screwing Up Whenever I Use It" or the convenient abbreviation of "StupGadScrewUp"), practically swooning over the fact that she was chosen this time.

"Hello, Trakeena," the former Princess of Evil spoke as she stepped out of the shadows, her tone venomous. "Let's cut to the chase, shall we?"

"Coming from you, no," the she-insect-beast cut her off before she could say any more. "I'm in a good mood today, Astronema. I'd much prefer I didn't see your annoying face or your irritating voice. It reminds me of…oh, what's her name again?" Trakeena laughed as she spoke, clearly enjoying the irritation displaying on Astronema's face. "Oh, yes. The second Pink Galaxy Ranger Karone! Oh, silly old me, forgetting that little detail."

"I am separate from that woman," Astronema snarled, her hands clenching into fists. "I do not have her conscience and am clearly sane, which is more than I can say for a horrid, mentally unstable insect like you."

"You dare?" Trakeena snarled back, all of her anger and loathing for the former Princess of Evil concentrated into those two simple words.

Astronema grinned, seeing the reaction she had gotten out of the previously beautiful insect-beast. "Why, yes, Trakeena dear, I dare," she spat. "I am obviously better than you at this, after all, and you and the Emperor shall soon see that."

"Only when the Power Rangers are utterly defeated and destroyed, Astronema, will I acknowledge that lie," Trakeena retorted. "Now stand aside. The Roulettes shall die soon, and I'd like to be around."

Astronema silently cursed as Trakeena pushed past her.

_You will die soon, Trakeena,_ she vowed. _I shall ensure your death by my hands, and by my hands alone._

* * *

"They're awfully late in coming here," Ash mused, leaning against a nearby gravestone and yawning. "Think it was just a false alarm?"

"You just want to go back to sleep," Ness grumbled, glaring at Ash. "If they're late, that means they've got something they needed to prepare before going."

"_And besides,"_ Claus butted in, _"how are we supposed to know if they're late or not? We didn't set an appointment with them, did we?"_

"Claus has a point," Lucas remarked. "How do we know if they're late?"

"Since when did this conversation veer into that territory?" Ash rhetorically asked, with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"When Claus here butted in," Ness replied.

"That was rhetorical."

"I know." The baseball bat-wielding psychic smirked at the Pokemon Trainer, who only responded with a glare.

"**Whose idea was talking to pass the time, anyway?**" Pikachu asked. "**So far it's mostly nonsense, like just now.**"

"That's the point, Pikachu," Lucas explained.

"_It helps keep our minds off the really bad stuff about to happen to us," _Claus added. _"Of course you need someone to talk to. If you didn't…"_

"People would think you're crazy," Lucas completed.

"**Is it just me, or did you just complete his sentence?**" the furry yellow mouse-like Pokemon asked, a hint of surprise coloring his tone.

"It's a twin thing," Ness, who had been arguing with Ash over who would win in a match, Samus Aran or some weird guy calling himself the Dustox Crusader, answered for the two brothers. "And sometimes even best friends do it. And those in love."

"I still say the Dustox Crusader would win," Ash stubbornly went on.

"Dude, all Samus has to do is take off the Power Suit and your Dustox Crusader would be knocked flat on his back in no time," Ness replied, his eyes narrowing into a death glare.

"**Like I said,**" Pikachu resignedly said, "**this makes absolutely no sense at all.**"

* * *

Somewhere in the multiverse, Samus Aran sneezed as she made out with her angel boyfriend, Pit.

"Something wrong, Samus?" Pit worriedly asked, breaking away from her.

"I have no idea, Pit," Samus replied, "but I have a feeling that someone, somewhere, is arguing that I'd win in a fight against some Superman pastiche called the Dustox Crusader."

Pit shrugged. "That's nothing to worry about," he assured her, then pressed his lips to hers again, picking up where they had both left off.

In the back of her mind, however, Samus vowed that when she found out who was using her in an argument on who would win, she would kill him. Slowly, painfully, graphically. Emphasis on the "graphically".

* * *

Lucas blinked.

"_Something wrong, Lucas?"_ Claus asked.

"Ness is screwed," he chuckled. "Samus is going to kill him once she finds out about this."

* * *

"We're here," Trakeena whispered as she, Mizuko and Lewis materialized in a shed not far off from their target. "Invisibility."

Slowly, all three Generals faded out of each other's sight, with the slight yet pleasant sensation of a cold shower running down their backs as the spell took effect.

"It worked!" Mizuko silently cheered. "I knew I was good at making spells! Really, really good! Right, Lewis? Where are you, anyway?"

"You've always been good at making spells, Mizzie," Lewis quietly replied, letting a small, happy smile on his face despite the fact that Mizuko wouldn't be able to see it. "And I'm right here." He hugged her close.

"Can we cut the melodramatics and do what we were sent here to do in the first place?" Trakeena hissed. "Now come on. I'm sure the invisibility spell won't last long."

All three tiptoed out of the shed, thankful for the fact that whoever took care of this part of the graveyard seemed to have a vendetta against leaves.

* * *

It was all too sudden. One minute, he and Ness had been trading Chuck Norris facts, the next Claus disappeared, those two people from before appeared with a really ugly insect (that he did not want to know the gender of) wearing a holster with a gun in it, and a Black Heart sprang into life right beside Really Ugly Insect.

The Black Heart was a large, hulking abomination, with a grey pallor and a gruesome face. One eye was hanging out of its socket, the other was fully white, with visible red veins criss-crossing it. It had a collection of scars on its body, with green blood oozing from some of them. Its hair was milky white, thinning in places, and there was one particular bald spot that also had its skin pulled back, exposing the sickly-green brain underneath.

Ash had turned a pale shade of green at the sight of the Black Heart that had been spawned into life (or un-life?), which only intensified when it opened its mouth: its teeth were falling out of rotting gums.

"That has to be the sickest, most disturbing sight I've ever seen in my life," Ness commented, having turned an attractive shade of green as well. "And I've seen some sick sights. Let me tell you—"

"Don't say a word!" Ash pleaded with the psychic, grabbing him by the shoulders. "And where's Lucas? We need to transform to deal with this thing, now!"

"**Are you ignoring me or something, Ash?**" Pikachu asked.

"No."

_**Your friend's over there, by that grave near the insect weirdo**_, Lillian helpfully pointed out. _**He looks pretty scared…**_

"Yeah, thanks for the info, Lillian," Ash hurriedly replied, letting go of one confused Ness. "LUCAS!"

Lucas, who had indeed found himself only a few feet away from Trakeena, snapped to attention, looking over at Ash. "Yeah?" he hoarsely asked.

"We should transform."

"I'm right in front of a really nasty-looking thing that has pincers," the other psychic hissed. "I don't know if I could."

"Just concentrate, and maybe the nasty-looking insect thing with pincers would disappear from your mind's eye," Ness jokingly suggested.

Bad idea. Really Ugly Insect whirled on Ness, Lucas, Ash and Pikachu, pincers a-snapping and looking ticked beyond all belief.

"You dare call me a nasty-looking insect thing with pincers?" it roared at them. "I'LL SHOW YOU!"

_**Ah, crap. Why don't you transform now?**_

Before Ash could respond with a rude word that he had just recently learned off of Dianne, a very large, transparent wall of glass erupted from the ground.

"What's going on?" Ness asked, starting to panic.

"I've separated you two from your little friend," the insect thing spoke from the other side of the wall. "Of course, that doesn't mean you can't have some fun with mine, now, can you?"

The two boys and one Pokemon slowly turned to look at the hulking, rotting abomination standing before them, smiling vacantly, awaiting orders. The smell of death surrounded it, assaulting their fragile noses.

Really Ugly Insect snapped its pincers. "Kill them. Show no mercy. I will deal with the boy on my side."

"Pikachu, get out of here," Ash commanded his Pikachu. "On one of the trees, preferably. Try not to get hurt, alright?"

"**All right,**" Pikachu replied, then took off.

_**Now would a great time to transform**_, Lillian told him, with a hint of sarcasm coloring her voice.

And, for the first time since the Black Heart sprang to life (or un-life?), Ash took Lillian's advice.

"Ness! Lucas! Now!" he yelled, silently marveling at the fact that even over that glass wall, the blonde psychic could still hear him.

"Magical Transform!"

"Roulette Blue!"

"Roulette Red!"

"Roulette Yellow!"

* * *

This day, for Lucas, was the worst moment of his life, way up there with holding his brother as he died and probably when he first transformed. He never could get used to the incredibly short skirt, or the fact that playboys everywhere would pee their pants wanting to get in bed with him in his Roulette form. At least until they found out he was actually a guy who only transformed into a girl and had never identified as one, but the playboy thing hadn't happened yet, and never would, as far as Lucas himself was concerned.

Anyway, now he, or rather she, was facing off against some insect beast that sounded really ticked off when she called it a nasty-looking insect with pincers. Except the insect thing was just standing around and she was just standing around as well, which meant it didn't really count as facing off against each other or something. Unless there was going to be an insult battle going down, in which case they were facing off verbally…

Ah, jeez, she was babbling to herself. Again. She really needed to hang around the other two Roulettes more.

"What are you doing here?" she asked it. "What do you want?"

"Isn't it obvious?" it purred in a feminine-sounding voice. "I want you to suffer."

"I don't even know you!" she protested. "Why do you want me to—oh, yeah." She sighed, scratching the back of her neck. "You're part of the Dark Emperor's team, right? Man, that's so obvious..."

"We call ourselves the Generals," the insect-thing replied, pacing around as it spoke. "We serve the Emperor in return for his help in our future endeavors."

"How can you guarantee that, then?" Yellow asked. "For all you know, he could be plotting against you right now! He could be trying to find ways to eliminate you and the other Generals!"

"SHUT UP, YOU IMPERTINENT CHILD!" it bellowed, suddenly pinning her against the glass wall and holding one of its pincers against her throat.

_Dammit,_ Yellow thought to herself, _I think I pressed a button there. And a big one, too._

"Thanks to that," it snarled, "you will face your greatest nightmare."

Yellow froze, slowly realizing exactly what the insect-thing meant.

_**I told you this could happen**_, Amelia murmured inside her head, a sad tone underlying her voice. _**I'm so sorry…**_

Yellow didn't reply, only watched in sheer horror as the insect-beast let go of her throat and snapped its pincers together. The ground started shaking violently on her side, cracking into two as a thick, large root lifted a familiar coffin into the air.

"I believe you know this person?" It snapped its pincers again, and the coffin opened to reveal Claus's body, still in the same condition as it was the day he died in Lucas's arms, the day he made the decision to remake the world as it was before Porky's influence ever came and corrupted it, twisted it into a dark parody of itself.

"C-Claus!" she stammered out, shock evident upon her face. "What the hell is wrong with you, you really ugly insect creature?"

"YOU DARE?" the insect-beast screamed again. "YOU WILL DIE BY THE HANDS OF THE ONE WHO YOU LOVED!"

* * *

Meanwhile, on the other side of the glass wall, Roulettes Blue and Red were having problems of their own.

"Can't you blast it from underground?" Red yelled as she ducked another blow from the undead Black Heart.

"I'm not about to fry corpses and coffins!" Blue yelled back, backflipping over the monster's swipe. "Their relatives would lynch me if I did! And no one wants that to happen, right?"

"WELL, CAN'T YOU FREAKIN' DO SOMETHING? YOU'RE THE FREAKIN' LEADER, AFTER ALL!"

"FIRE WALL!" Blue smugly announced, erecting a wall of flames of epic proportions just as the monster tried to swipe at her again. This, therefore, meant its arm caught on fire, and as an added bonus, the monster threw its head back and howled in pain. Loudly.

_**Don't you think that was overkill?**_

"Even more overkill would be summoning up a geyser of fire that could burn through corpses and coffins and therefore get us lynched, if not by the relatives, then by whoever keeps this graveyard," Blue replied to the voice in her head. "And no, this isn't overkill. PIKACHU, USE THUNDERBOLT!"

Out of nowhere came a flash of yellow lightning, coming down upon the monster just as the flames upon its arms had died down, somehow causing its eyes to pop straight out. Again, it screamed, blindly flailing about and failing to hit any one of the Roulettes it was fighting, providing a golden opportunity for Blue to throw up another Fire Wall and let more flames engulf the monster, which she promptly did.

"That is," she finished, grinning maniacally as Pikachu leaped off its perch on one of the nearby graves and onto her head.

"Now it's my turn!" Red announced, leaping up in front of the monster's face and trying not to breath in its foul smell. "PSI ROCKIN' OMEGA!"

Pretty, lethal psychic lights burst out of her as a red aura of psychic strength surrounded her, hitting the enemy point-blank. Needless to say, the undead Black Heart toppled over.

"…OVERKILL, NESS."

"YOU GOT PIKACHU TO ZAP ITS EYES OUT WITH A FREAKIN' THUNDERBOLT AND TRIED TO FRY IT TO A CRISP! I RESERVE THE RIGHT TO KILL IT WITH OVERKILL!" Red bellowed.

"…It's not dead yet," Blue helpfully pointed out.

"Ah, crap."

Indeed, although it had been blinded, almost fried to a crisp and hit at point-blank range with one of Red's most powerful psychic attacks, not one of them had been able to shatter the eerily glowing black heart embedded in its chest. This, coupled with the fact that it was an _undead monster_, meant that it had staggered to its feet, still blind but ready to rock.

"**We go for the weak spot next time,**" Pikachu reprimanded Red. "**Is that so hard to understand? It's a simple concept, after all, and—you're not listening to me, are you?**"

"Nope," Red replied. "Shut up."

_**You remember Fire Sword, right?**_ Lillian asked Blue. _**Try incapacitating it first by cutting off its limbs. Its strategy, after all, depends on being able to swipe at its enemies. Just be careful, because sometimes you summon a sword that...kinda drives you insane.  
**_

"Thanks for the advice, Lillian," Blue muttered under her breath, ignoring the last part, closing her eyes and focusing on the image of the Fire Sword. "FIRE SWORD!" she bellowed.

When she opened them again, she was holding a sword with flames dancing around it, its hilt engraved with some ancient runes or something. The blade itself was also engraved with ancient runes, which, for some reason, she could read as "The Blade of a Thousand Flaming Deaths". A psychotic grin slowly crept across her face.

"This," she murmured, lifting the flaming sword up high, "will be awesome."

* * *

Meanwhile, just as Blue was holding up her sword, Yellow was backing up against the glass wall as the insect-thing took aim with its gun, aiming it towards the corpse.

_**Do something, Luke!**_ Amelia cried in her head.

_What am I supposed to do, then?_ she asked.

_**Why don't you try, oh, your large repertoire of psychic powers?**_

She sucked in a deep breath, reminding herself of the many abilities she had amassed in her journey towards remaking the world (and mentally thanking Amelia for helping her in that department). "Okay," she murmured, her own brand of PSI crackling to life amongst her fingertips. "PK FLASH GAMMA!"

While she had been too late to stop the insect-thing from firing, she was able to knock it out with the great green ball of potentially lethal PSI before she looked up at the corpse which wasn't really a corpse anymore, owing to the fact that it—or he—was now moving.

"Claus?" she asked, her voice full of hope.

Then she saw the arm cannon aiming towards her, charging up with raw energy.

_CRAP._

* * *

"DIE, YOU FOUL-SMELLING BEAST OF THE UNDEAD!" Blue screamed, slicing cleanly through the Black Heart's legs, eyes wild with passion and fury. "FEEL THE WRATH OF THE SWORD OF FIRE, WIELDED BY THE LEADER OF THE ROULETTES, SLICING THROUGH YOUR BONES AND GIVING YOU AGONY, SWEET AGONY! LET IT BE KNOWN THAT I, ASH KETCHUM, HAVE DEFEATED YOU, A MONSTER RISEN FROM THE GRAVE!"

Pikachu exchanged uncertain looks with Red, who was doing her part by PSI attacks and the occasional healing.

"**I think he's gone insane, holding that sword,**" Pikachu remarked.

"Insane is an understatement, Pikachu," Red replied. "But hey, at least he's channeling all that insanity into slicing off that unholy abomination's limbs. Boy, did it smell!"

"**I agree with you on that one, Ness,**" Pikachu sighed. "**I'm going to be bathing for a week just to get that smell off!**"

"DEATH SHALL FINALLY COLLECT YOUR UNDEAD SOUL AFTER WAITING ALL THIS TIME!" Blue bellowed in the meantime, leaping up and hacking off the monster's right arm. "DWELL IN YOUR MISERY AS PAIN SHOOTS THROUGH YOUR WHOLE, ROTTING BODY!"

"It's undead," Red corrected, more to himself and Pikachu than the now-screeching Blue. "The undead don't really feel pain. And I don't think they have souls, either. Or undead souls."

"**Still, you gotta admit, he's got the whole 'large ham' thing going for him,**" the furry yellow rodent commented. "**And the Fire Sword he summoned looks…kinda different from the last one he got.**"

"The special effects are astounding, though," Red added. "And I think I can see ancient runes on it, too."

"**Must be why he's going nuts,**" Pikachu mused. "**I'm not coming near him while he's got that sword in hand, then. I'm not about to tick him off.**"

Red shrugged. "Same here," she replied. "PSI THUNDER BETA!"

* * *

"Claus, please, it's me!" Yellow pleaded, shielding herself from another shot. "It's me, Lucas, remember?"

Claus—or rather, the Masked Man—didn't answer, instead throwing a large stone twice his size towards his brother/sister/whatever, which, luckily for the other psychic, was avoidable by ducking and rolling a sizable distance away from her brother.

"Stop it, please!" she begged again, throwing up a green psychic shield when he answered with a PK Flash Alpha. "Claus, please remember!"

Again, she was answered with silence and a strong PK attack.

_**Luke…I think you need to kill him.**_

The tears that welled up in her eyes as her shield endured attack after attack were now spilling over.

"I…I can't," Yellow weakly replied, already feeling the strain from holding the shield through the relentless barrage of attacks. "Amelia, I can't kill my brother."

_**But if you don't, you might die.**_ Amelia's voice sounded fearful, as if she didn't want to lose the first person she had spoken to in years, and the one who was letting her stay in his/her body. _**You have to.**_

"There has to be another way!" she cried. "Please tell me there is!"

_**I'm sorry.**_

So she was screwed then. Unless she killed her brother, but that was undoubtedly out of the picture. What was she going to do now?

"…Detransform."

* * *

Blue landed on her feet, the monster's last limb falling to the ground soon after, while PSI Thunder Beta snaked its way around its limbless body.

She dismissed the Fire Sword, and not a second too soon, as she heard an inhuman scream of pain and an explosion behind her.

"The sweet sound of success," she murmured to herself, the last dregs of her earlier insanity already ebbing away. "Jeez, it doesn't really sound so sweet to me."

She turned around, finding a tired-looking Roulette Red and Pikachu backed against the wall, clapping feebly.

"Great job," Red said, pouring a liberal amount of sarcasm onto her words. "Nice of you helping us finish that monster off while screaming nonsense. Hamming it up really fits you."

"…Knock it off."

* * *

_**What made you detransform? You might get killed,**_ Amelia worriedly asked him.

"I know he'll recognize me," Lucas steadfastly responded, slightly wincing when he felt another psychic barrage of attacks hit his shield. "I know he will."

_**What if he doesn't, then? What if pleading with him to remember doesn't work?**_

"He will," he replied. "I know Claus."

With those words, the young boy silently murmured "Lifeup Beta" to himself, feeling a wave of warmth washing over his body and his strength slowly returning amidst a relentless barrage of attacks.

"Please remember," he pleaded again.

* * *

_At first, there was nothing, just an empty, gray landscape that stretched for as far as his eyes could see and his feet could walk. Occasionally there would be a flash of color, a glimpse of familiarity, but it would disappear just as soon as it came._

_Then something happened. A young boy with an odd hairstyle faded into view, and he couldn't help but know he was familiar, know his blue eyes, know that quiet little half-smile, know that yellow ice-cream swirl perched atop his head._

_Then, just as quickly as he appeared, the boy disappeared, and he was left alone once more._

* * *

"Lucas!" Blue screamed as she punched the wall again. "We're coming, don't worry!"

However, like her other attempts, this was unsuccessful.

"Let me try," Red impatiently remarked. "Lemme see how that wall stands up against PSI Flash Omega."

"With our luck it'll stay standing," Blue replied.

"**Aren't you forgetting someone?**" Pikachu snapped. "**Ash, this is the best time for an Iron Tail!**"

Silence reigned, before Blue's embarrassed "I forgot" reached their ears.

"…**I think I can get why Di calls you an idiot now,**" Pikachu grumbled, shooting a very pointed glare towards his Trainer.

Red snickered, watching Blue's face turn a lovely shade of red (probably copied off of a tomato, though, so no points for originality), and start sputtering about how Pikachu "wasn't about to start hanging with crazy weird girls with perverted tastes" and had "better not be picking up anything off of her".

"Anyway," Blue finally continued, "we need to get to the other side and help Lucas out. Red, get ready. Pikachu, you too."

Red nodded. "Got it."

"**Yeah, me too.**"

All three took a few steps away from the wall. Red held out her hands, concentrating on summoning vast amounts of PSI that started crackling along her fingers, while Pikachu's cheeks sparked with electricity. Blue held out her hands as well, although this time flames were dancing around her fingers in uncontrolled excitement.

"FIRE WALL!" The glass melted in places as Blue erected a wall of fire in the glass wall's exact spot.

"PSI ROCKIN' OMEGA!" Red's psychic attack blew holes in the glass before it could recover from Blue's fire wall.

"**PIKAAAA-CHUUUUUU!**" Pikachu did the rest, blowing the wall to pieces as its Iron Tail collided with the weakened surface.

* * *

This was probably going to go down in history as the dumbest, craziest, weirdest, nuttiest, most bizarre moment in Lucas's life, seeing his two, gender-flipping magical-girl friends and a furry, yellow, electric rodent shattering a glass wall while he was fighting against his resurrected brother. Again.

However, at the moment, he didn't really care. He was a little busy pleading with Claus to remember.

_

* * *

He walked on, aware of little else but the fact that his feet were starting to hurt and that there was something he needed to do. The question, though, was what was he supposed to do._

_Occasionally there would be a brief flash, a picture of a family or a helmet, or perhaps the boy with the yellow ice-cream swirl sitting atop his head from earlier, or a purple crystal with a powerful aura. He vaguely recalled the title of Commander, and every so often he would feel a sudden pain and kneel, like lightning had coursed through his body. "Help," he would weakly gasp out when he felt the start of another one. "Help…"_

_He always got up, though, without any help whatsoever, but still feeling like something was missing._

_And so he continued on._

* * *

Mizuko gripped tightly onto Lewis, who briefly swore under his breath. They had hidden themselves in the bushes, watching the battle unfold before their eyes. And just like before, the good guys were winning.

"They're winning," she whispered, close to tears. "They're winning again, and we're going to be scolded when we get back."

"There's always hope," he replied, holding her tighter. "They're going to lose this time, I just know it."

He was lying, of course. Deep in their hearts, they both knew they'd be defeated in this battle again, with the Roulettes standing strong, triumphant as before. Good always did win over evil, after all.

Briefly, Lewis wondered what would have happened had he made a different decision. Would he still be here? Would he still know Mizuko?

He quickly quashed those thoughts, though, and continued holding the young girl, who was close to the point of crying,

**

* * *

It had been a long time since it last felt the touch of human hands, even longer since it felt someone calling out to it, trying to reach it. It knew it was nigh impossible to do so, thanks to the charms, enchantments and wards the Queen had put on it to prevent its falling into the wrong hands, and that only the reincarnation of its past holder in need could call out to it.**

"_**Help…"**_

**Like now, for instance.**

**It could feel the pain she (or was it he? It was so difficult to tell, with its dulled perception) was going through, fighting against someone she (he, perhaps?) cared about and loved.**

**There was irony in there, it was sure. Nevertheless, its new holder was in danger, and it had a duty to do outside of this dark, damp cave it had resided in for the past few years. Or was it longer? Time didn't really work for it the same way it did for people.**

**If someone had been near that cave, they would have noticed, and perhaps investigated, a brilliant flash of purple light, followed by a twinkling sound, and then nothingness.**

* * *

"We gotta help!" Blue cried, but hadn't taken one step forward when Red stretched her arm out in front of her, stopping her in her tracks.

"What's wrong with you?" she demanded. "Lucas is barely holding up!"

"Have faith," the other cryptically responded. "He's stronger than you think."

Blue stayed silent for the briefest of moments before quietly murmuring, "Detransform." Seconds later, Ash Ketchum stood in the powerful Roulette's place.

Red followed, replaced by Ness. "I knew you'd understand," he remarked to Ash.

"I still don't," the Pokemon Trainer admitted as he watched Lucas withstand barrage after psychic barrage. "But like you said, Lucas is strong, maybe even stronger than any of us. He's gone through a lot, if anything."

Ness nodded in reply. "Have faith in him, Ash," he murmured. "Have faith."

_

* * *

He had collapsed at last, pain overtaking every fiber of his being. He couldn't keep walking any longer, not while agony engulfed his body and wrapped him tightly in its cold, painful embrace._

_It felt like an eternity, kneeling and clutching at his head and just screaming for help, someone, please—_

"_**Don't worry! I'm here!"**_

_That assurance was followed by the ground giving way underneath him. He screamed, as loud as he can, but before he could fall—_

_Someone had grabbed his arm._

"_**I told you I'm here now, didn't I?"**__ the voice asked. He looked up, saw the arm of a young girl—no, woman—in purple clothes. Her strawberry-blonde hair was cropped short in a cut resembling that of a pixie in all those fairy tales he had forgotten long before, and her hazel eyes twinkled with mischief._

"_Thanks…"_

_She pulled him up, and he got a good look at her._

_She was wearing a very revealing blouse with a plunging neckline and bared midriff, with a short miniskirt (that barely qualified as one), detached sleeves and boots that reached all the way up until her knees. Fingerless gloves with smoky patterns adorned her hands, while her hair was done up in twin tails._

_Oh, and almost every piece of her outfit was purple. Her eyes were purple as well._

_The only thing that wasn't…well, purple was her hair, which was a striking shade of blonde with a hint of red._

"_**Claudia."**_

* * *

It had all happened so fast, Ash had the feeling they had fallen into favor with somebody, for the proceedings that had happened before his eyes to do so. Probably someone who had the hots for the Queen of Hope—

He quickly stopped that thought right in its tracks before it could go anywhere, and stabbed it to its painful death in the proper, not influenced by Dianne part of his mind.

"Did that just happen?" he asked Ness. "Is it over? It looks like it's over. He's not trying to kill Lucas anymore, and apparently he's been resurrected for good. Is it over? I want to go home."

"**We've been cheated,**" Pikachu pronounced. "**I swear, I think we've been cheated out of what could've been the most heartfelt moment of all time.**"

"This is way too easy," Ness remarked. "I mean, look at them! They're hugging and crying and everything and—Lucas, watch out, nasty-looking bug thing's trying to kill you!"

The "nasty-looking bug thing" instantly turned on Ness, pincers snapping in anticipation. "You little—"

"Trakeena!" someone yelled, catching Ash, Ness, Lucas, Claus and insect-thing's attention. "We have to go!"

The insect-thing—Trakeena, its name seemed to be—snarled, then turned away, but not before saying, "The next time I see you four, you're going to regret ever calling me that."

Claus blinked. "What, nasty-looking insect-thing?" he mockingly asked. "Fine. How does 'horrible-looking gender-indiscriminate terrifyingly hideous bug beast' sound?"

"It sounds great!" a young man—probably the one who had called Trakeena earlier—responded. "It suits her perfectly!"

A young woman in an overly-pink lolita dress just sobbed in the young man's chest, not having heard Claus's taunt.

Trakeena hissed out some words none of them could quite make out (although they did pick out "brats" and "extermination", as well as some more explicit words), before disappearing along with Lolita Girl and Weird Guy.

"…Well, that was surprisingly easy," Claus commented. "Can't remember much of the fight, but—hey, what's this?"

Indeed, apparently a small, purple crystal had found its way onto Claus's hand, and was now shining ever so brightly.

"What the heck?"

"Oh, no…"

"Please don't tell me you'll transform into a girl with us," Ash begged. "I don't think I can take it."

"_But you can."_

"…Dammit," Ness cursed. "The Queen's here, and from the looks of it, Claus is the newest Roulette in town."

"You've got to be kidding me," Claus muttered. "Lucas, any help?"

The young boy had already left, though, perhaps to bang his head against the nearest solid surface, leaving Claus, Ash, Pikachu and Ness to deal with whatever the Queen was going to throw at them.

"_It would seem,"_ the Queen remarked, scrutinizing the scruffy, disheveled state the former Masked Man was in, _"that you've been through quite a time."_

"Dying twice and coming back to life the same number of times will do that to you," Claus shot back, scuffing the ground with his toe. "So what do I do? This little crystal's still…glowing and everything."

"_Allow me."_

The purple crystal, as if suddenly gaining a will of its own (which it probably had, seeing as it felt like it hadn't been dug out of wherever it was hiding in _years_), rose up out of his outstretched hand, and, as he and the others stood by and watched, transformed into a purple watch, same as the ones on Ash's and Ness's wrists.

"…So this means I get to turn into a girl. Joy."

Ash sighed. "Our first resurrection and he turns out to be Roulette Purple. Who knew?"

"**Practically everyone**," Pikachu replied.

* * *

It was nighttime, and Lucas was on the cliffs. The wind whipped past his face, the smell of the salty air meeting his nostrils.

"Hey, Lucas?"

"Ness, if you bother me while I'm trying to think up here, I swear I won't hesitate to kick you off this cliff," he replied without missing a beat. "This is possibly the weirdest day of my life, and I haven't even gotten to tell Dad about it yet."

"What makes you think I'm Ness?"

Lucas quickly turned around, then smiled.

"…Hey. I missed you."

"I missed you too." He threw his arms around Claus, savoring the warmth of his brother's body.

_**

* * *

Do I stink? I think I stink. No writer should cheat their audience out of a CMOH. Tell me, I need the help!**_


End file.
